Announcement of World Bank Supports Health Sector Development with United States (U.S.) Eighteen Million Dollars Credit in Madagascar on June 28, 2005

Madagascar: World Bank Supports Health Sector Development With US$18 Million Credit Media contact: In Washington: Aby Toure (202) 473 8303 akonate@worldbank.org In Madagascar: Jocelyn Rafidinarivo (261-20) 225 6000 jrafidinarivo@worldbank.org Washington, June 28, 2005 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit* of US$18 million to help improve the health status of the population through more accessible and better quality health services in Madagascar. The Supplemental Credit for Second Health project aims to provide additional resources for the original Second Health Sector Support project approved in 1999. It will help increase accessibility to health facilities from 60 percent to 65 percent, and outpatient health facility utilization is expected to improve from 0.2 to 0.6 contacts per person per year. District hospital utilization rates will go from 40 percent to 60 percent and contraceptive prevalence rates will increase from 9.7 percent to 22 percent. Other project indicators include increased child immunization rates from 40% to 75%, reduced hospital fatality rate in malnourished children hospitalized for nutrition rehabilitation from 20% to 10%, and finally, the HIV prevalence rate in pregnant women will be maintained below 1.0 percent. “The credit will provide financial support for the Ministry of Health’s operations and mitigate the effects of the 2002 political crisis and the subsequent natural disasters”, said Jean-Pierre Manshande, the World Bank Task Team Leader for the project. The project will also provide resources, under the project‘s district component, directly to districts to support their activities and programs and strengthen their technical skills and capacity to plan and manage the increase financial resources from the newly introduced Poverty Reduction Support Credit. * The credit is provided on standard International Development Association (IDA) terms, with a commitment fee of 0.35 percent, a service charge of 0.75 percent over a 40 year period of maturity which includes a 10-year grace period. For more information on the World Bank’s work in sub-Saharan Africa visit: http://www.worldbank.org/afr For more information on the World Bank’s work in Madagascar visit: www.worldbank.org/mg For more information about this project visit: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64027221&piPK=64027220&theSitePK=356352&menuPK=356386&Projectid=P088729