MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Kathy Sullivan M.P., today announced that Australia would provide $A12 million to help Indonesia improve maternal health services.
Mrs Sullivan said that Australia's funding would be used to reduce the number of maternal deaths in Eastern Indonesia and West Java.
'It is a sad fact that 21,000 Indonesian women die during childbirth every year,' Mrs Sullivan said.
The money will help support UNICEF's Safer Motherhood Program, which has been successfully operating in other parts of Indonesia since 1995.
Mrs Sullivan is in Indonesia on a week-long official visit that has taken her to Denpasar, Kupang, Surabaya and Jakarta. As Parliamentary Secretary, she assists the Foreign Minister Mr Downer and has particular responsibility for Australia's aid program.
Australia provides about $90 million in aid to Indonesia each year.
Mrs Sullivan said that the $A12 million given by Australia would mean that the Safer Motherhood Program could be expanded to target women most at risk of maternal death in West Java - where annually about 6,000 women die in childbirth - and also in the provinces of Maluku and Irian Jaya.
'In these areas, the problem is more acute as geographic isolation and poverty makes it hard for women to access health services,' Mrs Sullivan said.
The Safer Motherhood Program aims to reduce maternal morbidity by improving the quality of maternal and neonatal health services, supporting village midwives and traditional birth attendants, and helping identify problems during early pregnancy.
AusAID, the official Australian aid agency, has several programs in the Eastern provinces that help improve the health of women and their children.
JAKARTA
Media contacts:
Judi Nixon (Mrs Sullivan's office) 07 5591 1011 or mobile 0411 287 258
Michelle Hardy, AusAID, 02 6206 4968