A US $1.6-million drug donation by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will benefit 890,000 Burundian children and 32,000 pregnant women over the next three months.

The first 63-tonne consignment of the EU and UNICEF's 173-tonne donation of drugs and medical equipment arrived in the country on Saturday. Distribution began on Sunday, with the aim of covering 37 hospitals and 436 health centres nationwide.

A UNICEF assistant information officer, Barbara Jamar, said on Tuesday the quantity of drugs and equipment distributed would depend on the needs of each facility. She added that a plane carrying another consignment was expected in mid-October.

UNICEF's representative in Burundi, Catherine Mbengue, said the donation was the international community's response to the government’s decision to offer free medical care from 1 May to children under five years and pregnant women.

"The move will accelerate the implementation of the [UN's] Millennium Development Goals," Mbengue said.

At a joint news conference in the capital, Bujumbura, the EU representative in Burundi, Georges Marc André, said the EU, through its humanitarian agency, ECHO, had contributed $1.1 million of the total while UNICEF had donated $500,000. Burundi's minister in charge of HIV/AIDS control, Dr Barnabé Mbonimpa, received the donation on behalf of the government.

UNICEF said in a statement that the donation would go towards the treatment of diseases such as malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhoea and would also allow pregnant women to deliver in better conditions.

Although the government's move to offer free medical care to children under five years and pregnant women was well received, it was deemed ill prepared. Officials in hospitals and health centres complained of low supplies of drugs and medical kits after rising patient numbers.

The manager of Roi Khaled Hospital in Bujumbura, Liévin Nsabiyumva, said that since May, the number of patients seeking maternity services had almost tripled, "but the medical kits or staff did not follow the trend".

Nsabiyumva said since May the government owed the hospital 70 million francs ($70,000), in addition to 400 million francs ($400,000) debt that the government owed the hospital for the treatment of returnees and displaced persons.

Marc André said Burundi's health sector would soon benefit from another donation as Burundian authorities had identified it as a priority sector.

"In the coming months, 8 million euros [12 billion francs] will be released to support the sector of health," he said.