By Bernama
Vientiane : The World Bank agreed Sunday to provide over US$15 million to improve health activities in Laos from 2006 to 2010, Lao news agency (KPL) reported.
The agreement on the Health Service Improvement Project, along with a project to include ethnic group concerns in poverty reduction strategies costing about US$200,000, were signed by senior officials from the Lao government and the fund provider.
The Health Service Improvement Project is one of the priority projects under the Country Assistance Strategy between Laos and the World Bank.
The Health Service Improvement project is expected to take over four years to complete under the management of the Ministry of Public Health.
The project aims to reduce poverty and improve the health status of the Lao population, particularly the poor and rural population, in 60 targetted districts in eight central and southern provinces.
The project will help to improve quality and utilisation of health services, strengthen institutional capacities for health service provision and improve equity, efficiency and sustainability of health care financing.
Finance Minister Somdy Douangdy, said that the assistance is an important milestone in the cooperation between Laos and the World Bank on the socio-economic development of the country.
“In order to ensure the effectiveness of the project, I would like to urge all the concerned agencies to increase their involvement and strictly follow the procedures and regulations of the project” said Mr Somdy.
The second project will help to strengthen the capacities of the Lao Front for National Construction, both at the local and central level, to better represent the interests of different ethnic groups in policy discussions.
The second project also involves workshops to increase understanding of and facilitate broader dialogue on the development of policies affecting different ethnic groups.
It will also help to create a better understanding of the special characteristics of multi-ethnic groups in Laos , which will also encourage more participation of ethnic people in national development.
The end result of this project will assist in systematic and centralised development of multi-ethnic groups in Laos.
It will also provide important information for other donors’ assistance projects.