Goalpara: The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) will provide technical support to marginalised and vulnerable women and children in Goalpara district of lower Assam.
In a joint meeting with the district officers of different departments at the conference hall of the deputy commissioner's office here on Friday, a Unicef team under the supervision of Tushar Rane, chief field officer (CEO) in Assam, took stock of the position of the implementation of central and state-run schemes on woman and child development.
Departments like health and family welfare, public health engineering, Sarba Shiksa Abhiyan, police, social welfare, child protection unit presented their status and sought technical help from Unicef, citing the challenges before them.
Deputy commissioner Varnali Deka presided over the meeting and assistant deputy commissioner Nur Hussain coordinated in the departments' programme.
Superintendent of police Amitava Sinha presented a report on crime and violence in the district, specially referring to crimes against children.
Rane and his team emphasised on providing clean and hygienic environment to people under Swachh Bharat Mission.
Unicef intervention in Goalpara will focus on strengthening implementation of central and state government schemes so that they reach the most marginalised and vulnerable children and women.
The organisation will also work in Goalpara to improve child survival by strengthening the delivery quality of health services, providing support for capacity development and strengthening health systems, evidence based policy advocacy, monitoring and supportive supervision.
Assam is at the bottom of the list on maternal mortality rate (MMR) with a figure of 300 against the national average of 167. MMR is the annual number of female deaths per 1,00,000 live births.
The Centre is aggressively carrying out vaccination and other medication to reduce MMR across Assam, including in Nagaon, Dhubri, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong, Kokrajhar and Chirang districts, under Mission Indradhanush.
