Brussels, 30/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - €185 million is the total amount of the two financing agreements for new programmes supporting health and agriculture in Afghanistan. The agreements were signed by the European Commission and the Afghan minister of finance, Omar Zakhilwal, on 28 January.
Health. The health programme will provide basic health care and essential hospital services for 14 million people (almost half of the population) and will support the ministry of public health in implementing the national health strategy - “Health for all Afghans”. Poor people in Afghanistan should thus gain access to basic public services, and those who live in remote provinces should have easier access to good medical facilities, doctors and midwives.
Agriculture. The agriculture programme particularly focuses on water management in rural areas, where 80% of the population depends on agriculture and associated ways of making a living. The agriculture programme will support the ministry of agriculture in providing appropriate strategies and implementing the water resources management plan, fostering private sector development and addressing seasonal and chronic unemployment. It will support crop production, producing and selling disease-free trees, and improving market conditions - which will enable the rural population to have alternative sources of income to poppy cultivation. (AN/transl.fl)