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Add to Preferred SourcesThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100 million loan to help the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) provide affordable, accessible, equitable, and high-quality health services for all citizens.
The loan will fund the second of the three subprograms of the Health Services Sector Development Program, approved by ADB in May 2018.
“The program supports fiscal policy, public financial management, and health sector reforms, while providing critical financing during a period of sharp fiscal tightening that will enable the Government of Papua New Guinea to safeguard funding and provide better quality health services for all, particularly for women and children,” said ADB Principal Public Management Specialist for the Pacific Ms. Pamela Wyatt.
The expansion and strengthening of Public Health Authorities (PHAs) has improved subnational health service delivery through regulations, manuals, and the delivery of budgets and annual reports. The program also has a strong gender component, requiring PHAs’ board structures to have at least one woman director, making them more prominent in the decision-making process, while providing sex-disaggregated data for more inclusive policymaking.
The program is complemented by the ongoing investment component approved in 2018 that will support health infrastructure. Capacity-building efforts are being undertaken to strengthen PHAs and their management, while support for a new digital health data collection for stronger reporting is underway.
Original source: ADB
Published on 13 November 2019