ISLAMABAD, July 29: The government of Sindh plans to launch a Rs731.8 million six-year project to improve health of women and children in rural areas of the province, an official source told Dawn here on Saturday.

The Asian Development Bank is likely to finance 80 per cent of the cost of the project while the Sindh government will bear the remaining 20 per cent.

The project proposes to reduce the maternal mortality rate in the province from 500 to 330 out of every 100,000 live births, infant mortality rate to 70 from 100 of every 1,000 live births and to extend maternal and child health (MCH) facilities from existing 40 per cent to 60 per cent population.

Three major components comprise the project namely expanding access of women to reproductive health care, development of four women-friendly district health systems and increasing support to institutional and human resource development.

It is expected that five million women will be benefited from the project while another one million will benefit from comprehensive women’s health care.

The health situation in Sindh is no better than the rest of the country with regard to different social and health indicators as it is significantly lagging behind even other developing countries of similar economies.

The project has been developed to meet the goals laid down in the national health policy, poverty reduction strategy and the mid-term development frame work. These initiatives lay considerable emphasis on the improvement of the health of women through involvement of communities and bringing improvement in the health care delivery through institutional restructuring.

In addition to tertiary care institutions, (teaching hospitals and specialized institutions) and district hospitals in different districts of Sindh, MCH services would be provided in 51 talukas (tehsil) headquarter hospitals, 101 rural health centres, 753 basic health units, 16 maternity homes and 37 MCH centres located in the province.