§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the results of the midwifery training project funded by her Department to improve standards of midwifery in the Gaza Strip; and how many midwives it has trained. [43872]
§ Clare ShortThe Gaza Midwifery project was established in 1999 to improve safe motherhood by developing the capacity of the midwifery profession in Gaza. The project will have trained 27 midwives by June 2002, and plans to train a total of 89 by June 2004. The current crisis has adversely affected the implementation of training, but enrolment and graduate numbers remain over 80 per cent. of that originally envisaged.