The World Bank and the Government of India signed a loan agreement of $400 million for the Program Towards Elimination of Tuberculosis. The program aims to improve the coverage and quality of TB control interventions in nine states. TB remains a public health crisis that kills an estimated half a million people in India every year.
The program builds on a partnership between the Government of India and the World Bank that has spanned more than 20 years. World Bank support has contributed to scaling up of Directly Observed Treatment and services to poor and high-risk groups, including tribal households, HIV patients, and children; universal access to diagnostics and quality TB care; and initiation and scale-up of multi-drug resistant TB services. World Bank supported programs have helped treat more than 20 million people since 1998 and averted 3.5 million deaths.
“TB predominantly affects the poor and marginalized and kills approximately 480,000 people every year in India. Simply put, this program is India’s war against TB,” said Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank. “The program draws on a unique partnership between Gates Foundation and the Bank in support of Government of India’s program on TB eradication.”
The program is built on strategic partnerships with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, who are providing US$ 40.6 million to buy down the principal of the loan; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who are financing independent verification of results achieved by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and providing technical support to scale up private sector engagement. Such partnerships fulfill the kind of cooperation and innovative financing envisaged in the World Health Organization’s End TB Strategy.
“The program incorporates Indian and global best practices in private provider engagement for TB control, patient support interventions and capacity building. It is designed in close coordination with relevant development partners, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the WHO,” said Ronald Upenyu Mutasa, World Bank Task Team Leader for the Program.
Original source: World Bank
Published on 27 June 2019
