finance an OFID/WHO (World Health Organization) Partnership on the Prevention of Transfusion-Transmitted HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis Infections in Priority Countries. Activities will be carried out in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan. Another grant of US$2 million will support a project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) that will increase the efficiency of the use of water resources for irrigation purposes in the North Western districts in the West Bank. Also approved was a US$500,000 grant to co-finance a project created by the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research, with the view to help improve socio-economic conditions of women in Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Jordan, the Sudan and Yemen. Another US$500,000 grant will back the final phase of a Guinea Worm eradication program established by the Carter Center, which is undertaking activities in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and the Sudan. Finally, a US$450,000 grant will support poverty-reduction activities being carried out by the Austrian Red Cross in nine villages in the Rukum District in north Nepal. Since its inception in 1976, OFID has provided over US$11.35 billion in much-needed concessional development financing to 121 developing countries around the world, with priority given to the poorest amongst them.
