Japan grants $8.1 million to help Afghan children

Japan has pledged to provide UNICEF with $8.1 million to help Afghan children in need, Japanese embassy in Kabul said in a statement.
The statement said the grant was a part of the overall support for the wellbeing of mothers and children, with focus on health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, through the scale-up of the system as part of the Basic Primary Health Service (BPHS) across all 34 provinces.
According to the press release, a grant-signing ceremony was held at the Embassy of Japan in Kabul between Ambassador Mitsuji Suzuka and UNICEF representative Adele Khodr on Sunday. Minister of Public Health Ferozudin Feroz was also in attendance.
“I would like to thank the government and people of Japan for supporting the Ministry of Public Health in scaling up this important project. I would like to thank UNICEF, our trusted partner…” the minister added.
Since January 2016, the Ministry of Public Health, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), UNICEF, the WHO and other partners have been working together to develop Afghanistan’s first ever integrated home-based and hand-held personal record of maternal and child health and nutrition.
A prototype of the Afghanistan Maternal and Child Health Handbook (MCHHB) was developed last year and piloted in Kama and Mirbachakot districts. The Ministry of Public Health is now ready to scale up implementation of the MCHHB across all 34 provinces.
The contribution will target 5.2 million beneficiaries – 2.1 million pregnant women and 3.1 million children under two years of age – and their respective families. Adele Khodr said: “UNICEF values the partnership with the government of Japan and the sustained support to children in need, especially within a protracted context such as Afghanistan.
“Continued investment in Afghanistan’s children, especially the most vulnerable is a key building block for the future stability and development of this country,” she stressed.