Press Release: New EU support to save lives of mothers in Liberia

The EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs, announces a new €42 million programme during a meeting with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia and the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The new EU funding will contribute to halving maternal mortality rate to 375 per 100,000 live births from the current level of 770 per 100,000 (one of the highest in the world). These funds will be used for rehabilitating health centres, providing medical equipment, training health staff and many other activities aimed at improving health services in the country.

This EU funding is part of the EU's €1 billion MDG initiative to foster global progress on the Millennium Development Goals before 2015.

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