AID cooperative agreement no. FAO-0500-A-00-2035-00 with the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere, Inc. (CARE) to support child survival interventions and training in Indonesia and Bangladesh

In Indonesia, CARE will implement its existing Village Maternal and Child Health project in 15 villages in 3 districts in Nusa Tenggara Barat Province. Activities will focus on five areas: maternal health; nutrition; oral rehydration therapy; acute respiratory infection; and tetanus toxoid immunization. A total of 10,000 children aged 0-24 months and 8,000 pregnant women are expected to benefit from these interventions. In addition, CARE will work through recently government-trained village midwives and the formation of women"s groups to increase women"s use of health services. CARE will also work to establish community medicine posts, both to bring health services closer to local women and to generate funds to improve the services of the village health posts. Finally, government officials will assume greater responsibility for developing village supervision teams, with less support from CARE. In Bangladesh, CARE will continue its Child Health Initiatives for Lasting Development (CHILD) project in Sylhet District, Chittagong Division. Working with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), CARE will seek to strengthen the existing Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) and to integrate oral rehydration therapy, vitamin A distribution, nutrition education, and family planning into the EPI outreach program. The project"s principal strategies will be: training of MOHFW field workers and managers; diffusion of basic health messages to beneficiaries; and social mobilization in support of MOHFW health services. The target population includes all children aged 0-72 months (242,910) and all women aged 15-45 years (245,114).