The European Union (EU) in Ghana has disbursed close to 16 million Euros to the Government of Ghana, under Ghana's Multi- Donor Budget Support framework.
This is made up of 10 million Euro sector Budget Support for the Ministry of Health and 5.65 million Euro General Budget Support
In the framework of the EU's existing financial agreement with Ghana, 10 Million Euros equivalent of GHc 25, 000, 000 released to the Ministry of Health would support the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) Accelerated Framework and Country Action Plan developed to combat maternal mortality.
A release issued to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Tuesday in Accra, said the framework constituted the first tranche of a programme amounting to 52 million Euros or GHc 130,000,000.
It said that it would also support improvements in skilled birth attendance, emergency obstetric and new born care as well as family planning measures.
The statement said that with the additional funding, Ghana would be able to reduce the unacceptable high burden of mothers dying while giving birth to 185 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2015.
According to the release, the funding for maternal health comes in addition to the 400 million Euros, the EU was providing to Ghana over the period of 2007 to 2013.
The statement said the money was mobilized as additional funding for countries that were “most off-track in achieving some of the MDG's."
It noted that “the EU has also been providing General Budget Support to the Government of Ghana in the framework of the Multi Donor Budget Support ( MDBS) with the aim of contributing to sustainable growth and poverty reduction in Ghana, including the achievement of the MDG’s.
"The EU is pleased to have effected another disbursement of 5.65 million Euro equivalents to GHc 14,000,000 to complement Government's own domestically generated revenues and to facilitate the implementation of the national budget and its associated public expenditure plans to sustainably reduce poverty".
The statement said that in July 2012, the EU also released 24 million Euros from the MGD-contract to the Governments Treasury account, in accordance with the MDBS procedure.