The Government of Sweden has provided a total of 9.9 million US Dollars to United Nations Population Fund or UNFPA to reduce maternal mortality in South Sudan.
UNFPA Representative in South Sudan Barnabas Yisa in a statement says the fund will be used for training midwives and nurses to provide maternal health services in addition to supporting the training of Associate Clinicians and Doctors and general surgery in the country.
He says the fund will enable UNFPA to expand its Midwifery Education Programme and strengthen the local training institutions as a way to lay a solid foundation over the next three years.
UNFPA reports that South Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world ranging from 2054 deaths per 100 thousand live births in 2015.
The Representative adds that UNFPA and Ministry of Health estimated over 3.4 million South Sudanese destined to require reproductive health services with specification of 850 thousand women.
Representative Yisa says the donation comes timely when UNFPA is to intensively scale up improved access to comprehensive quality reproductive health services in South Sudan.
Outgoing first Secretary at Sweden Embassy in South Sudan Elisabeth Hårleman says Sweden prioritizes training highly skilled health human personnel to reduce maternal mortality.