Edward W Birgells Regional Director US Agency for International Development - USAID (Sindh) maintaining that healthcare was important for political purposes as well as for the welfare of the people, announced that USAID had approved US $ 300 million child-health program for Pakistan “and a lot of that money would be coming to Sindh”. He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Health Sector Reforms & Support Unit that is being established with a Rs. 270 million grant from the USAID.

Australia will provide A$100.5 million dollars, equivalent to Tk 8.3 billion, as official development assistance to Bangladesh for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

“Australia's aid program makes an important contribution to a global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in particular for eradicating poverty,” said Acting High Commissioner of Australia Tim Bolotnikoff.

This is part of the Australian government's overall commitment to increase the size of the Australian aid program to A$5.2 billion from A$4.8 billion in 2011-12 fiscal year, said a press release.

Brussels on Monday announced a further 20 million euros in aid to victims of Pakistan's 2011 monsoon floods, as well as people displaced by conflict, bringing funding this year to 55 million euros.

While the world had responded with generosity to the country's devastating 2010 and 2011 floods, "we must not forget that millions of people are still struggling to recover, especially in the province of Sindh," said the EU's Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Kristalina Georgieva.

Pakistan needs $840 million to meet the needs of 7.2 million people hit by floods and insecurity, United Nations' estimates showed on Sunday.

Appreciating the effectiveness of partnership between aid agencies and the government in this regard, OCHA's Operations Director John Ging discussed efforts undertaken by the government and the humanitarian community working together in Sindh and Balochistan to help 5.2 million people recover from the devastating floods of 2011.

Ging is on a three-day visit to Pakistan.

An exercise to evaluate the short to medium term effects of the foreign-funded Citizen Disaster Compensation Programme has been launched in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts affected by 2010 floods, according to officials.

The evaluation is meant to examine the positive and negative impacts of the cash grants programme, which, some independent foreign organisations’ field staff believe, is not likely to achieve the desired outcomes.

Millions of families in Pakistan remain in a desperate need of support following devastating floods in September 2011, international and national aid agencies warned on Thursday.

The representatives of a coalition of aid agencies also criticised a lacklustre response from the international community after monsoon flooding devastated Sindh and parts of Balochistan in September 2011.

They were expressing their views at the launch of a report titled “Pakistan Floods Emergency - Lessons from a Continuing Disaster” held on Thursday.

Gorillas, cockatoos and frogs are among a list of threatened species to benefit from a $3.3 million aid award, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said yesterday.

The conservation fund Save Our Species (SOS), set up by the IUCN, the World Bank and others, has announced to allocate the cash to more than 20 projects.

SOS is involved in the protection of the Cross River Gorilla and Black Rhino in Africa and the Snow Leopard in Pakistan.