LONDON : Britain on Wednesday announced £252 million of planned funding for India's Reproductive and Child Health Programme. The money, to be spent over five years, would support the programme's aim of saving one million lives every year.

Announcing the funding, Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International Development, said Britain was keen to support the Indian Government's "single biggest response to prevent needless deaths that destroy families across the country."

"The birth of a child ought to be a joyful experience, but for more than 100,000 women in India giving birth means death for them and possibly their baby as well. Every year more than two million Indian children will die before they reach their fifth birthday. The tragedy is that these deaths could so easily be prevented if mothers going into labour had the support of a skilled midwife, and children were properly immunised against killers such as measles and tetanus," he said.

The Department For International Development said it had worked with the Government of India in designing a comprehensive programme, aimed at providing good quality reproductive healthcare for the poor.

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