MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am pleased to announce that Australia will provide
almost $3 million to fund new aid programs to improve basic living conditions in
Sudan.
Australia will focus the new aid programs on
improving primary health care and providing access to safe water and basic
education. Public services in Sudan are in urgent need of rehabilitation due to
the effects of 13 years of civil war. This relief contribution for 1997-98 will
be provided through AusAID. It will be distributed through Australian
Non-Government Organisations and a United Nations agency.
- $615,835 will be provided to CARE Australia for a
primary health care project to benefit about 100,000 people in Tambura County.
Health workers will be trained to implement a Sleeping Sickness control
program and health care services will be rebuilt and expanded. - $872,000 will be provided to UNICEF Australia for
a basic education project to boost primary school enrolment levels, especially
for girls. This project will also provide training for teachers, basic
education materials and school uniforms. - $658,000 will be provided to UNICEF Australia for
a primary health care project to expand immunisation programs to cover polio,
measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus. Vitamin A will be
also distributed to children and lactating women. - $500,000 will be provided to Community Aid Abroad
for a primary health care project to strengthen community-based primary health
care and campaigns against guinea worm, river blindness and other preventable
diseases. - $140,000 will be provided to the United Nations
program for Internally Displaced Persons to coordinate humanitarian assistance
and monitor human rights.
These contributions will address the basic needs of
the people of Sudan. More than 80 per cent of people in southern Sudan lack
access to safe drinking water, making them vulnerable to water-borne diseases
such as cholera and diarrhoea. Improving education is also a priority since less
than half of eligible children attend primary school.
Since 1992, Australia has provided $29 million in
relief assistance to Sudan, the largest country of the African continent with a
population of 26.7 million.
Media contacts:
Judi Nixon (Mrs Sullivan's Office) 075 591 1011 or mobile 0411 287 258
Michelle Hardy (AusAID) 02 6206 4968