The Government has obtained a $90m facility from the World Bank to support efforts at improving health delivery in the country.

A release issued by the Ghana Office of the World Bank said the government of Ghana has successfully negotiated with the bank to make $32.4 million of the amount a grant facility. The fund, which is for the Second Health Sector Programme Support Project, forms part of a multi-donor budgetary support facility for the health sector and will finance initiatives outlines in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) to improve health delivery and reduce inequalities in the sector.

It said some of the targets under the project are to “improve life expectancy, which is currently at 58 years, reduce infant mortality rate from 57 to 50 deaths per 1,000 live births, reduce maternal mortality from 214 to 150 per 100,000 live births, reduce HIV/AIDS prevalence rate to 2.6 per cent or lower and reduce guinea worm cases from 7,400 to zero”.

According to the release, the project will increase geographical, financial and socio-cultural access to health service, improve the quality of delivery, health-worker performance and respond to clients’ need. It will also ensure improvement in financing the health sector, extend prepayments schemes to replace the “Cash and Carry” system, develop an appropriate policy and regulatory environment for health insurance and poor and vulnerable.

The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Mr Mats Karlsson, said Ghana cannot be expected to grow without a healthy population and added that the bank is happy with the close collaboration that exists between the governments, the bank and its development partners.