Grant supports health care for Afghan refugees.

A grant of $15,000 from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund has been given to support Church World Service (CWS) work with refugees in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The funds will be used to help maintain and expand an ongoing CWS program that ensures access to community-based health care for the refugees.

CWS has been working with Afghan refugees since 1979, reported the board's Emergency Response office. "This effort continued through the political upheaval and war in 2002 when there were over a million refugees," the grant request said. "The Church of the Brethren responded to this incredible need by working with the CWS Emergency Response Program over the last two years." The work has focused on refugees in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and Afghan refugees living in Mansehra, Pakistan. "CWS/IRP is working to expand these programs at the request of the Afghanistan Ministry of Health, while at the same time US government funding has been decreasing for this project," the grant request stated.

Source: 01/07/2005 Newsline