JAKARTA, Sept 24- The World Bank (WB) announced on Monday that it will invest at least US$700 million by the end of 2015 to help developing countries reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for women and children’s health, Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported.
A press release from the organisation received Monday said the new funding comes from the International Development Association (IDA) and the World Bank Group’s fund for the poorest countries, and it will enable national scale-ups of successful pilot reproductive, maternal, and child healthcare projects that were made possible by the support of the Bank Group’s Health Results Innovation Trust Fund (HRITF) and IDA.
This announcement follows World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim’s September 2012 commitment to help scale up funding for MDGs 4 and 5 as part of the UN Secretary General’s “Every Woman Every Child” global partnership.
“We need to inject greater urgency into our collective efforts to save more women and children, and evidence shows that results-based financing has significant impact,” he said
“The World Bank Group is committed to using evidence-based approaches to help ensure that every woman and child has access to affordable and quality healthcare system necessary to survive and live a healthy and productive life,” he added.
Monday’s announcement comes on top of the September 2010 World Bank pledge to provide US$600 million in IDA results-based financing for MDGs 4 and 5 by 2015. The World Bank has delivered on that pledge two years ahead of schedule. This support has contributed to global decline in maternal and child mortality and expanded access to healthcare for poor women and children.
Through results-based financing, the World Bank Group is working with countries to shift the focus from paying for inputs to paying for results. Payment to healthcare providers is explicitly tied to the successful delivery and independent verification of pre-agreed results. There is strong evidence that this approach works.
In Afghanistan, the number of women delivering their babies with the support of skilled birth attendants more than doubled between April 2010 and December 2012 in treatment facilities.
In Argentina, improved healthcare services and accessibility for poor pregnant women and children led to a decrease in low birth weight and in-hospital deaths of babies in the first 28 days of their lives for programme beneficiaries.
In Burundi, within a year, birth rate rose by 25 per cent, prenatal consultations went up by 20 per cent, and the number of children fully vaccinated increased by 10 per cent.
Further progress on women and children’s health will require a comprehensive approach to strengthening healthcare systems, including investments beyond the healthcare sector, in critical areas such as water and sanitation, education system, and labour markets.
IDA’s country-based approach reinforces national health strategies and priorities while building on the World Bank Group’s areas of comparative advantage in providing a multi-sectoral and systems-based approach to improving health.
HRITF, supported by the governments of Norway and the United Kingdom, in turn reinforces this by providing countries with incentives to scale up their investments through IDA.
– BERNAMA
