The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a $30 million (1.5billion dalasis) grant from the International Development Association (IDA) to improve the quality and utilization of essential health services in The Gambia.
The Essential Health Services Strengthening Project will provide performance-based financing grants to health facilities, scale up community engagement to improve utilization of quality health services; and build resilient and sustainable health systems to support the delivery of quality health services, the bank said in a statement on Friday.
This will include the renovation of selected health facilities and the establishment of a national blood transfusion service, it added.
“The project will build on the success of the Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health Results project and the ongoing COVID-19 Preparedness and Response project to improve access and use of primary health care services for all in The Gambia,” said Feyifolu Boroffice, World Bank Resident Representative to The Gambia, according to the statement.
In the long term, it is expected that the project will help reduce maternal and child mortality, therefore contributing to improve The Gambia’s Human Capital Index, according to the bank.
For Samuel Mills, World Bank Task Team Leader for the Project, “the project would address key constraints to effective health service delivery with a focus on results, thereby contributing to achieving universal health coverage in The Gambia,” according to the statement.
