HCMC - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday signed two loan agreements totaling US$160 million and an US$11 million grant agreement to help Vietnam raise the quality of healthcare services, improve human resource capacity and upgrade irrigation infrastructure, said the ADB office in Vietnam.
A US$60 million Asian Development Fund loan from the ADB and an US$11 million grant from the Government of Australia will finance the Health Human Resources Sector Development Program.
The program will support health system reforms that address key constraints that underpin health service delivery, especially the management of human and financial resources.
In detail, it will establish systems for the licensing and registration of all health personnel as well as health institutions, upgrading of training facilities, training of ethnic minority health workers, and facilitate the adoption of standard treatment and costing packages for health services provided to locals.
The Ministry of Health is the executing agency for the program, which is expected to be completed by end-December 2015.
“Vietnam needs to accelerate, and step up socially inclusive policy reforms to address inequalities and improve delivery of social services such as healthcare, as improvements in health status especially of the poor and ethnic minorities are critical to achieving the country’s development goals of inclusive development,” said the bank’s Country Director for Vietnam, Ayumi Konishi, in a statement.
Another US$100 million loan was for the Strengthening Water Management and Irrigation Systems Rehabilitation Project. The project will rehabilitate the 50-year old Bac Hung Hai irrigation and drainage system, and construct a new campus for the Water Resources University.
The French aid agency AFD is co-financing the project with a loan of 20 million euros, while Vietnam will provide counterpart financing of US$51 million for the project. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is the executing agency for the project, which is expected to be completed by June 2016.
“The two key characteristics of these projects are the emphasis to develop human capacity to effectively utilize the improved infrastructure and the systems, and the collaboration with our development partners. As Vietnam will host the ADB’s 44th Annual Meeting next year in 2011, we focus more on capacity building and look forward to continue working closely with concerned agencies and various development partners,” said Konishi.
