Providing health check-up for an ethnic minority woman (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors on June 20approved an 80-million-USD loan to help Vietnam improve basic health servicequality and access, especially in disadvantaged areas.
TheInvesting and Innovating for Grassroots Health Service Delivery Project isdesigned to enable commune health stations (CHS) to start detecting andmanaging non-communicable diseases while strengthening their existing role incontrolling infectious diseases and providing essential maternal, newborn andchild health care services.
Itis expected to benefit around 9.2 million people in 13 provinces, namely HaGiang, Bac Kan, Yen Bai, Son La, and Hoa Binh (in the north); Quang Binh, QuangTri, Quang Ngai, and Ninh Thuan (in the central region); and Long An, Tra Vinh,Hau Giang, and Bac Lieu (in the south).
OusmaneDione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam said: “while health outcomes andaccess to basic health services have improved tremendously for the generalpopulation, disadvantaged groups, especially ethnic minorities and those livingin poor, remote, and mountainous provinces, still lag behind.”
Therefore,the project is designed to target these groups by closing remaining gaps inaccess to basic healthcare while expanding new services to address emergingdemographic and epidemiological challenges.
Inaddition to the 80-million-USD loan provided through the InternationalDevelopment Association, the financing package also includes grants totaling 25million USD. These comprise 17 million USD from the Global Financing Facilityfor Women, Children and Adolescents to soften the interest rate of the loan, 5million USD from the Integrating Donor-Financed Health Programs Multi-DonorTrust Fund and 3 million USD from the Tackling Non-Communicable DiseasesChallenges in Low and Middle-Income Countries Multi-Donor Trust Fund. In-kindcontributions from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance will also be provided.-VNA
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