HC Deb 19 February 1991 vol 186 cc115-6W
Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will offer aid programmes to help deal with the high rates of maternal death, disability and miscarriage suffered by Namibian women.

Mrs. Chalker

The Namibian Government plan to develop a primary health care system which will place much greater emphasis on maternal health. We have offered to assist in a project to train primary health care trainers, currently being designed by the Ministry of Health with the assistance of Oxfam UK. We are exploring the scope to provide further help in this sector.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will offer special aid to the Government of Namibia to set up institutional retraining programmes for procedures in dealing with cases of murder, rape, and assault of Namibian women.

Mrs. Chalker

The objective of our current assistance to the Namibian police service is to enable it to respond more effectively to the needs of all sections of the community. Training courses developed by British police advisers, in which local civil and women's rights organisations participate, reflect this objective.

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