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PRESS RELEASEApril 29, 2022

World Bank to support pandemic response and public sector modernization in the State of Paraná

The program aims to improve the efficiency of health and other priority public services, benefiting around 11.5 million people

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2022 – As part of an international effort to mitigate the negative effects related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Board of Directors approved today the US$130 million Parana Public Sector Modernization and Innovation for Service Delivery Operation . The program aims to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the efficiency of health and other priority public services, benefiting around 11.5 million people.

Despite the high vaccination rates, Brazil still accounts for 11.8 percent of all recorded COVID-19-related deaths worldwide. In the State of Paraná, the COVID-19 pandemic has represented an unprecedented health challenge. As of March 2022, the state had the third-highest cumulative number of COVID-19 cases and the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 cumulative deaths among the 27 Brazilian states.

“As soon as the pandemic started, we launched the COVID-19 recovery plan (2020–21),  which included interventions to better respond to the emergency and improve efficiency of the state’s priority public services, including health, environmental and disaster risk management, and public sector management. This partnership will allow us to improve these selected areas while reducing gaps in access to public services through service delivery and management reforms and the use of information technology”, says the Governor of the state of Paraná, Carlos Roberto Massa Júnior.

The proposed operation will support the expansion of hospital capacity to deliver COVID-19-related treatment, restructure public health service delivery, and support new technologies to increase the hospital network’s efficacy and strengthen coordination across different levels of care.

Moreover, the operation will support the development of information systems to improve environmental, climate and disaster risk data to inform public decision-makers about key information on health surveillance and disaster risk. The data will allow for a better understanding of the spatial distribution of environmental, climate, and health threats as well as the identification, quantification, and assessment of the physical structures and population at risk.

“This partnership will allow comprehensive interventions in a number of areas, through a multi-sector approach, leading to more effective and sustainable post-pandemic recovery for the State of Paraná. This operation represents an opportunity of addressing not only pre-pandemic challenges but also of opening new paths towards innovative delivery of public services”, says World Bank Director for Brazil, Paloma Anós Casero.

Outcomes supported by the program include:

·         Increase of hospital beds available to treat COVID-19 patients;

·         Conversion of small hospitals into multi-professional care units;

·         Deployment of an online platform for environmental management, including key data on health surveillance and disaster risk;

·         New public investment projects prepared, screened, and approved using the new PIM guidelines and system.

This loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to the State of Paraná is guaranteed by the Federative Republic of Brazil and has a final maturity of 25  years, with a 5 years grace period.

World Bank Group Response to COVID-19

From April 2020 to March 2022, the World Bank Group committed over $200 billion to public and private sector clients to fight the health, economic, and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fastest and largest crisis response in its history. The financing is helping developing countries strengthen pandemic preparedness, protect the poor and jobs, and jump start a climate-friendly recovery. The Bank is also supporting over 70 low- and middle-income countries, more than half of which are in Africa, with the purchase and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines.

Contacts:

Washington: Yuri Szabo Yamashita, yszaboyamashita@worldbank.org

Brasília: Elisa Diniz (+55 61) 3329-1059, elisadiniz@worldbank.org

Website: www.worldbank.org/lac

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