By Judith Ugwumadu | 28 November 2013

Ivory Coast has struck a €18m deal on debt reduction with France and the European Commission in order to improve maternal and child health services over the next three years.

The Commission said the would be used to ensure a smooth changeover from humanitarian aid to sustainable development in the country’s public health services, as Ivory Coast gets back on its feet. Money is to be targeted at regions that have been most affected by the fighting which broke out after the disputed 2010 elections. It is expected to provide a million pregnant women and children under the age of five with free health services.

According to the Commission, a debt-reduction and development contract (C2D) signed by France and Ivory Coast late last year paved the way for the transfer of €18m to the commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO).

Kristalina Georgieva, European commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response, said: ‘This is the first time that debt-reduction funds from a member state of the European Union are transferred to ECHO in order to improve the quality and accessibility of maternal and child health services.’

‘We are very proud of this collaboration because we are bringing efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality rates together in [Ivory Coast] while helping the country through the final phase of recovery after the elections.’

At the end of 2011, the ‘Partnership for Transition’ in Ivory Coast was set up between the EC’s Humanitarian Aid Department and the President of Ivory Coast. The first phase of this partnership provided support to 2.2 million Ivorians with aid funding of €36m to boost health care, food security and social cohesion programmes.

The commission has so far provided €99m in humanitarian aid since Ivory Coast’s 2010/2011 post-election crisis.