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The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved an additional US $ 130 million loan from the International Development Association (IDA) on November 10 for the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Project.
This additional funding will help Ghana increase its efforts to mitigate the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic and safely reopen its economy.
“This additional funding is timely and critical to save lives and build resilient systems by further increasing capacity for surveillance, diagnosis, treatment with increased availability of beds in intensive care units and adoption of new COVID-19 drugs. These are comprehensive efforts towards the broader goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage, which Ghana has committed to as a priority, ”said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The project will strengthen the efforts of the Government of Ghana to prevent and contain the virus and safely reactivate socio-economic activities in the country. It will also support preparations for the future deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The project complements investments by the World Bank Group and other development partners in disease control and surveillance and citizen participation. We will continue to work closely with other partners to support the scaling up of Ghana’s COVID-19 response and ensure the provision of essential health and nutrition services, ”said Anthony Seddoh, Senior Health Specialist at the World Bank Group.
The project will also expand communication and awareness campaigns across the country to reduce infection risks and increase understanding of COVID-19 vaccines. Support for people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, such as survivors of gender-based violence, who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic will also increase.
With this additional financing, the World Bank has provided a total of US $ 1.005 billion in IDA resources to Ghana during 2020, supplemented by US $ 86.6 million in resources from the Bank-administered Trust Fund. This is the highest level of support provided by the World Bank to Ghana in a single year since the country joined the institution and covered a variety of sectors, namely health, education, jobs and skills, water and sanitation, transportation, digital transformation, financing for development. and Statistics.
The World Bank Group, one of the largest sources of finance and knowledge for developing countries, is taking comprehensive and swift action to help developing countries strengthen their response to a pandemic. It is supporting public health interventions, working to ensure the flow of critical supplies and equipment, and helping the private sector continue to operate and maintain jobs.
The World Bank Group will make up to $ 160 billion available over a 15-month period ending in June 2021 to help more than 100 countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and strengthen economic recovery.
This includes $ 50 billion of new IDA resources through grants and concessional loans and $ 12 billion for developing countries to fund the purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
