The World Bank’s (WB) Board of Executive Directors has approved financing for a program to improve quality of life and life expectancy for more than 90 million people in West Bengal through wider and more equitable access to quality healthcare, the institution announced.
West Bengal has made sustained health gains over the past two decades. Infant mortality rates dropped from 32 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2010-2012 to 19 in 2018–2020. The total fertility rate sits at 1.64 births per woman as of 2019, among the lowest in India. Life expectancy in West Bengal is 72 years, higher than the national average. But despite these gains and high literacy rates among adolescent girls at 89 percent, West Bengal has the second highest rate of adolescent pregnancies in India at 16 percent, which also drives the maternal mortality ratio to 103 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2018–2020. The districts of Purulia, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Maldah, and Uttar Dinajpur face critical challenges in reproductive, maternal, and adolescent care.
“This Program will help West Bengal deliver more equitable and higher-quality health services, with measurable results for women, adolescents, and people living with non-communicable diseases,” said Paul Procee, the World Bank’s Acting Country Director for India.
By linking financing to verified outcomes and strengthening governance and climate resilience, the operation addresses both service gaps and systemic constraints that have held back health gains for vulnerable communities, he added.
The West Bengal Health System Reform Program Operation—$286 million—will support delivery of personalized healthcare services across the state for people over 30 through digital tracking measures for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. It will also bring a patient-centered care approach to the state’s health systems, improve measurement of health outcomes, and boost the resilience of healthcare facilities to extreme weather events. The program will support strengthening gender-based violence services, including targeted interventions for boys, married adolescents, and healthcare providers. In the five districts of Purulia, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Maldah, and Uttar Dinajpur, the program will improve access to quality healthcare services and reduce inequities in maternal and adolescent health.
“Strengthening the continuum of care at the primary level through measures like control of hypertension and diabetes is central to bending the NCD curve,” said Rahul Pandey and Meghna Sharma, the program’s Task Team Leaders.
They noted the program’s focus on quality-of-care interventions and mechanisms to respond to gender-based violence are vital to improving health outcomes and trust in the healthcare system. The $286 million loan from the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development has a final maturity of 16.5 years, including a grace period of three years.
