WASHINGTON, March 29, 2022—The World Bank approved today a total of $134.9 million to support Madagascar in its efforts to strengthen its pandemic preparedness across sectors and improve the provision of basic health services and quality of care. The Pandemic Preparedness and Basic Health Services Delivery project is supported by a $50 million International Development Association (IDA*) credit,a $50 million IDA grant, and the two grants totaling $32 million from the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF**) consisting of $15 million to maintain and protect essential health services and support the rollout of COVID-19 tools and $2.9 million from Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund.
To deliver on its objectives, the project will facilitate the adoption of the One Health Approach which engages other sectors and key institutions (education, decentralization, public service) to help implement heath financing and human resources reforms. One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach, working at the local, regional, national, and global levels in order to achieve optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.
“It is essential to seize the current momentum surrounding the COVID-19 crisis to build a stronger and more resilient health system to detect and respond to the health crisis and adopt a “One Health” approach,” said Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira, World Bank Country Manager for Madagascar. “Doing so will enable Madagascar to weather future shocks and cushion its most vulnerable populations from the adverse impacts of those shocks.”
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Madagascar has experienced persistent and severe disruptions in essential health services such as routine vaccinations, safe births and family planning, putting years of health progress at risk. In addition to addressing critical needs for disease surveillance and epidemic preparedness, the project will ensure the protection of essential health services through health system investments and by ensuring access to critical services such family planning and routine immunization. Such investment would also strengthen the resilience and performance of basic health services by increasing the autonomy, financing, and accountability of primary health care facilities, availability of health workers at the local level, and financial accessibility of the poorest to these services.
“The Global Financing Facility is pleased to partner with the World Bank and the Government of Madagascar to continue to focus on the most vulnerable women and children and ensure they can access the services they need,” said Monique Vledder, Head of Secretariat, GFF. “By building more resilient primary health systems and community capacity to both deliver services and roll out COVID-19 tools, Madagascar can accelerate progress and ensure a more equitable recovery.”
The project supports the government in implementing the National Action Plan for Health Security 2020–24, the National Strategic Plan for Public Health Surveillance, and the country’s Investment Case for reproductive, maternal, neonatal, adolescent, and child health.
*The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 74 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.3 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has provided $458 billion to 114 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $29 billion over the last three years (FY19-FY21), with about 70 percent going to Africa. Learn more online: IDA.worldbank.org. #IDAworks
**The Global Financing Facility (GFF) is a multi-stakeholder partnership of the World Bank that supports country-led efforts to improve the health of women, children and adolescents. With the GFF, countries are making smarter, more prioritized, results-focused investments toward greater impact on the health, nutrition and well-being of women, children and adolescents; building capacity for more sustainable funding for this agenda; and exploring more innovative ways to work with the private sector. Since the GFF was founded in 2015, partner countries have made significant progress to improve maternal and child health. Learn more here.
Source: World Bank