World Bank approves $20 million for strengthening Health System
WASHINGTON, June 23 — The Government of Eswatini’s efforts to strengthen its health system and increase the coverage and the quality of essential health care services got a boost following the approval of a $20 million loan by the World Bank for a project aimed at addressing critical challenges such as stunting and maternal, child and adult mortality.
This Health Systems Strengthening for Human Capital Development Project will help Eswatini improve health service delivery by integrating and scaling up quality nutrition and key reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health services and noncommunicable disease services such as hypertension and diabetes.
The project will also support the health care system in providing high quality services and strengthening the capacity of health facilities. This includes building the capacity of health care workers through training and the creation of a platform for sharing best practices to promote continuous professional development and collaboration. It also includes providing health care workers with digital job aids such as phone-based apps to enhance decision making, supervision and accountability. Furthermore, it will increase the availability of drugs, equipment, and digitize patient data in clinics, health centers and hospitals.
“With this project, the World Bank will help the Government of Eswatini transform its health system and increase its ability to tackle the challenges of child and adult mortality and morbidity, as well as stunting”, said World Bank Country Director for Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly. “This will boost the country’s plan to prepare for a future with healthy, skilled, and productive adults as articulated in the Eswatini Strategy Roadmap”.
In addition, this project includes a Contingent Emergency Response Component to allow for rapid reallocation of project proceeds in the event of future natural or man-made disaster or crisis.
This project will complement the ongoing Eswatini COVID-19 Emergency Response Project, which was approved in April 2020. While the emergency operation focuses on short-term needs to support capacity in prevention, detection, and response to the threat posed by COVID-19, this operation aims to strengthen the foundations of the health system and its preparedness to respond to the population’s health needs, including through strengthened health facilities that can provide high-quality care to patients, digital platforms for real-time management of service provision, and reinforced governance to efficiently and effectively respond to dynamic changes.
