TOKYO, Broadcasting News Corporation : Japan will extend a Grant Aid of 689 million yen (about $4.8 million) to Syria to improve the health system in the province of Homs, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on October 12. This Grant Aid Project for Strengthening the Health System in Homs is extended through the Copenhagen-based United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Japanese Ambassador to Denmark MIYAGAWA Manabu and Jens Christian Wander, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Project Services, signed and exchanged notes on Tuesday. In the 11th year since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, about 90 percent of the people are still living in poverty, and the humanitarian crisis continues, the ministry said. “It is estimated that about 14.6 million Syrian people need humanitarian assistance and protection, including about 12.2 million people need assistance in the health sector,” according to the ministry. Due to this protracted conflict, about 70 percent of public hospitals in Homs are either partially or not functioning, and there is a serious shortage of medical services, it said. The Grant Aid will provide hospital restoration and medical waste incinerators for Homs Grand Hospital, strengthen stable secondary medical services for the Syrian people, including the internally displaced, and improve the humanitarian situation in the health sector within Syria. NEWS COLLECTED FROM ARAB NEWS.