DR Congo / World Bank Grant of US$ 80 Million for Health Sector Rehabilitation Support Project (Democratic Republic of Congo)
BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of the Congo, December 21, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved an additional grant of US$ 80 million for the Health Sector Rehabilitation Support Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The additional grant will mainly fund a major scale-up of malaria control
activities as well as related support to the overall health system. Malaria is
the most common cause of illness in the country, contributing to maternal and
child mortality. About 97% of the population is at risk of endemic malaria,
while 3% are vulnerable to epidemic malaria.
Activities to be covered by the grant include providing approximately 8.4
million long-lasting insecticidal bed nets in Katanga, South Kivu, and North
Kivu provinces; and delivering malaria control services (including prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment) to pregnant women and infants in health zones
supported by the project.
"The grant will help bridge the funding gap in the governments effort to scale
up malaria control and potentially reach universal bed net coverage by the end
of 2011, said Jean Jacques Frere, Senior Health Specialist and Task Team
Leader of the project. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria are now
the two priority countries served by the World Banks Malaria Booster Program."
The grant builds on successful large-scale bed net distribution campaigns by
the government in six provinces, including the mass distribution in Kinshasa
supported by the World Bank in late 2008. The results are impressive:
Nationwide bed net ownership has increased from 9.2 percent of households in
2007 to 51% in 2010, and bed net use by young children and pregnant women has
increased dramatically in tandem with a decrease in the prevalence of malaria.
BACKGROUND
" The projects main objective has been to ensure that selected health zones
covering about 18.9 million peoplehave access to and make use of a
well-defined package of quality essential health services.
" The original project supported 83 health zones in 10 districts in Bandundu,
Equator, Kinshasa, Katanga and Maniema provinces, covering 9.4 million people.
It was restructured in April 2010. The geographic scope was expanded to include
70 more health zones earlier supported by the Emergency Multisectoral
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Project which closed at the end of 2009. This
increased the beneficiary population from 9.4 million to 18.9 million.
" The overall project has four components:
o Expand Access and Utilization of a Proven Package of Essential Health
Services to Selected Districts and Health Zones: The project supports
implementation of the Ministry of Healths Package of essential primary health
care services through performance-based contracts with non-governmental
organizations.
o Boost Malaria Control Interventions: Malaria Control interventions under the
original project include: (i) intermittent preventive treatment in pregnant
women for pregnant women; (ii) Artemisinin-based Combination therapy for
first-line treatment for malaria; and (iii) scaling up coverage of long-lasting
insecticidal nets.
o Strengthen capacity for oversight and evidence-based management of the health
system: Under this component, there are two essential activities: (i) building
capacity for M&E through contracting of a firm as an External Evaluation
Agency and (ii) strengthening institutional capacity of provincial and
district health administrations through a contract with an international NGO.
o Project Coordination: This component supports a Project Coordination Unit
within the Ministry of Health as well as the costs for an annual Project Review
Forum. Initially the Bureau Central de Coordination in the Ministry of Finance
was responsible for fiduciary management, but with the recent restructuring
this responsibility was fully transferred to the Health Sector Rehabilitation
project -Project Coordinator Unit.
SOURCE
The World Bank
