UNFPA to expand refugee health project

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with the Iranian ministries of health and interior, is set to expand reproductive health services for Afghan refugees in Iran. The move follows the anouncement on Wednesday of a 160,000 pound Sterling (approximately US $235,000 equivalent) contribution by the British government's Department for International Development (DFID). "Our objective is to provide quality reproductive health services to the Afghan population in Iran," UNFPA programme officer Monire Bassir told IRIN on Thursday. "Included in this programme are family planning, pre-natal care, post-natal care, safe delivery and adolescent reproductive health issues, as well as counselling on issues such as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS." A conscious effort was being made to involve Afghans in providing reproductive health information, counselling and services at all the centres, she added. The UNFPA decided on a comprehensive approach in a bid to improve the reproductive health status of Afghan refugees living in camps through a higher use of health facilities, according to Bassir. However, special attention would also be paid to providing adequate services to the under-served refugee population and vulnerable groups living outside the camps, she said. The UN estimates that 98 percent of Afghans in Iran live outside formalised refugee camps, which underpins the decision to implement the project outside the camps. There are currently health posts located in the provinces of east Khorasan, south of the Iranian capital, Tehran, and in southeastern Sistan/Baluchestan, serving joint communities of Afghans and Iranians. The DFID contribution is intended to provide a second year of funding for 16 health posts included in the reproductive health project, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME), in partnership with UNFPA and the Iranian interior ministry. Afghan refugees are entitled to use primary health care services in MOHME health centres free of charge. However, in certain areas where Afghan settlements are highly populated the ministry has reported difficulties in adequately responding to the health needs of the population, which prompted this particular UNFPA project in 1999. "This [DFID] contribution reflects the UK's commitment to share the burden of the current refugee problem with Iran," the regional coordinator for DFID, Ann Freckleton, told IRIN on Thursday. "This latest donation by the UK government brings the current total UK contribution to over 2.7 million pounds (or some US $4 million dollars) for projects designed to assist Afghan refugees in Iran," she added. According to figures provided by the authorities in Tehran in September, there are over 1.5 million Afghans living in Iran. It included in that number 1,482,200 documented Afghans and some 500,000 undocumented foreign aliens, mainly Afghans, living in Iran.