Japan funds women health promotion

JAPAN has provided US$331,087 grant towards improvement and promotion of Women’s Health in Masaiti, Mpongwe and Lufwanyama districts on the Copperbelt.

The grant to be managed by Japanese Organisation for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) will be officially signed on Tuesday by Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Mizuuchi Ryuta and Ms. GOTO Kumiko, general project manager of JOICFP, a Japanese NGO.

The project titled “Promotion of Women’s Health throughout the Life Cycle at One-Stop Service Site (OSSS) in Zambia Phase Three” will among other things address health issues and other challenges facing women in the project area.

Since 2018, the JOICFP’s project had successfully been contributing to improving access of women in need to quality maternal and child health (MCH) services in Masaiti, Mpongwe and Lufwanyama district, Copperbelt Province by operating OSSSs.

This includes a maternity waiting house, youth centre, and by training Safe Motherhood Action Groups (SMAGs) and Young Peer Educators (PEs).

The final phase of the project, which will be sealed by the signing of the grant contract, is aimed at ensuring local communities take over the activities that have been implemented by JOICFP to date.

JOICFP will also conduct its final project survey at target areas to share the analysis of the result with the Ministry of Health and Provincial and Health Offices in the implementing districts.

Japan embassy economic cooperation advisor, Yoshito Kenta stated that through the implementation of the phase three of the project, it was expected that the district health offices in Masaiti, Mpongwe and Lufwanyama and the local communities were going to be able to continue the implementation of the JOICFP’s project by themselves.