Britain and Australia on Monday pledged Rs13.7 billion for improving mother and child healthcare facilities in Pakistan. According to a press release, an agreement to the effect was signed here on Monday. It aims to help save 30,000 women and 350,000 children. The UK's Department for International Aid (DFID) will provide Rs11.7 billion over five years and the Australian government Rs2 billion. The initiative will help train 12,000 midwives and strengthen obstetrics and newborn care in district hospitals across the country.

Key points from the PM's detailed document listing the administrative and legislative measures taken to implement the NCMP. ...... | e-mail | one page format | feedback: send - read | Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assessment of his government's implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) is not a mere propaganda pamphlet. It is a detailed document listing the administrative and legislative measures taken to implement the NCMP. Here are some key points: Employment * National Employment Guarantee Act has been passed and is being implemented.

The Manmohan Method * The PM is low-key but meticulous in understanding and implementing policy * He has monitored the NCMP on a monthly basis. The task was given to three IAS officers in the PMO. * Assessment of a political manifesto's implementation is unprecedented. * He has quietly pushed officers and tried to convince the political class to act on the NCMP. * In spite of disappointment over the Indo-US nuclear deal, he still hopes to make a mark in foreign policy through a trip to Pakistan. ***

The draft National Child Labour Policy, which was circulated for opinions from the stakeholders, will soon be placed before the Council of Advisers for approval, said Labour and Employment Adviser Anwarul Iqbal yesterday. "I believe once approved the policy will contribute to the elimination of child labour both in government and private institutions,' he added. The adviser was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of a national seminar titled 'Eradication of hazardous child labour' organised by labour and employment ministry at Biam auditorium in the city.

A leading aid group warned yesterday that thousands of young children in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar could starve to death within weeks unless emergency food supplies reach them soon. Save the Children said on its website that the youngsters could succumb to hunger "within two to three weeks". "We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger," said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK.

BANGKOK: At risk of disease, abuse and forced recruitment into the armed forces, children are the most vulnerable survivors of the cyclone that hit Myanmar, many of them orphaned or lost, fending for themselves.

The state government had launched Ladli Laxmi Yojana with a view to creating positive thinking about girls among the masses, improvement in gender ratio and improving standard education of health of girls apart from laying a solid foundation for their future. The novel scheme has yielded very good results within a short span of one year.

About 73 per cent of the street children in the Dhaka city suffer from chronic malnutrition while mortality and morbidity status among the street dwellers has reached an alarming level due to lack of basic healthcare services. This was revealed at a seminar organised in Dhaka on Wednesday by ICDDR,B to release the findings of a study on

Nutrition situation is deteriorating in the country with the outbreak of diarrhoea when 12 to 15 percent of children are already suffering from malnutrition due to poverty, food insecurity, low birth weight, lack of awareness and hygiene practice. Diarrhoea is a major cause of malnutrition and morbidity of children aged under five years across the globe, and 17 percent of children below five years die every year globally due to diarrhoea, of which 95 percent children are in developing countries, says World Health Organisation.

BEIJING: China's capital recorded its first death from hand, foot and mouth disease on Wednesday as the authorities tried to contain the spread of the potent virus just three months before the city hosts the Olympic Games. The illness has sickened tens of thousands of children across the country and killed at least 42 people. A child died Sunday on the way to a hospital, according to Xinhua, the official news agency, which cited a Beijing Health Bureau spokeswoman, Deng Xiaohong. The director of the health bureau's publicity office, contacted by telephone, declined to comment.