DOZENS of projects designed to improve the health and well-being of people in the region have got the go-ahead after a £5.6m injection of National Lottery cash.

From teaching belly dancing to tackling teenage pregnancy with the help of robot babies, the package from the New Opportunities Fund is targeted at less well-off communities.

There will be an emphasis on healthy eating, exercise and projects for groups who often miss out.

The fund was set up to channel Lottery funds into good causes, including a range of activities organised by "Healthy Living Centres".

The allocation is just the latest chunk of lottery cash to be invested in the region.

So far, a total of £23.7m has been ploughed into health, education and environment projects in the North-East.

Sunderland is the biggest winner, with £3m allocated to schemes across the city and north Washington, Wearside.

Professional belly dancer Vivienne Lee-Smith, who will be working with women in Sunderland to improve their fitness, demonstrated her dancing skills at the launch ceremony, on Wearside.

Two projects in Newcastle, which are targeting deprived areas in the city's west and east ends, have received £2m.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency has received £640,000 for a variety of projects, including healthy lifestyles courses, community allotment schemes and training schoolchildren to educate their classmates about the effects of drug or alcohol abuse.

Mr Blair said: "I am delighted that the application for a Health Living Centre in Sedgefield has been successful, and that the National Lottery, through the New Opportunities Fund, is funding a project which will help the people of my constituency develop new approaches to improving their health."

The schemes include:

* Using robot babies to give 11 to 16-year-olds an insight into what it is like to have a baby.

* Teaching young men at risk of poor health to take part in basketball and DJ-ing.

* Setting up a food co-op, healthy eating caf and healthy food delivery service.

* Aromatherapy massage to help calm restless babies and complementary therapies for those on low incomes.