On April 28, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors gave a nod to the financing of $100 million so as to fund the Nepal Quality Health Systems Program Operation.
The program is going to improve the quality of healthcare services as well as increase health insurance coverage, and elevate the capacity of the healthcare system to be ready and respond to health emergencies across Koshi and Gandaki provinces of the country.
According to World Bank Country Director for Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, Faris Hadad-Zervos, by investing in health and placing it at the top of its agenda, Nepal can go on to reap numerous benefits like an increase in productivity, enhanced health outcomes, and economic growth. He further said that the World Bank does aid Nepal’s objective to put quality at the centre of health system policy and service delivery with planning.
It is well to be noted that the program will be executed by the Nepalese Ministry of Health and Population in coordination with the Health Insurance Board at the government level as well as local and provincial governments based in Koshi and also Gandaki to aid in the achievement of the country’s Health Sector Strategic Plan for 2022–2030. The program will include the enhancement of responsiveness and efficiency of the health system, accelerating sustainable financing as well as social security in health, and also giving thrust to equitable access to quality health services.
As per the practise manager for health, nutrition, and population in the South Asia Region, Dr. Feng Zhao, the funding goes on to support the implementation of federalism and works on Nepal’s first program for results as far as the health spectrum is concerned so as to take into account the challenges of quality and access and also build a robust public health sector. He added that the results of this program can have an impact on scaling it up to other provinces too.
The funding for the program is complemented by the $3.84 million grant given by the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Trust Fund, which supports eligible nations as well as territories to scale up their capacities when it comes to preventing, preparing, and dwarfing the impact of epidemics on people.
