Announcement of World Bank Approves First Loan for Health Project in Peru on December 2, 1982

I FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ,World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A,* Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 83/20 Contact: Hugh Blackman December 2, 1982 (202) 477-3879 WORLD RANK APPROVES FIRST LOAN FOR HEALTH PROJECT IN PERU Peru's newly adopted national primary health care program will be supported by a loan of $33.5 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The loan is the first World Bank loan to Peru exclusivel- devoted to health care in that country. The Peruvian government's primary health care program is designed to extend basic health care to people who currently do not receive health services. Most of these people live in the shantytowns surrounding many of Peru's cities or in poor rural areas. These families suffer from a high incidence of infant mortality, malnutrition, and infectious disease. The project, to be implemented by theMinistry of Health, will help provide for the traiving of nearly 27,000 health care personnel, as well as for the construction and equipping of health posts and health centers which will be responsible fcr delivering primary health care. These operations will be concentrated it four regions of the country; La Libertad on the northern coast, the slums on the outskirts of Lima, Centro Medio in Peru's Sierra, and in Huanuco, a jungle region. A total of about 3.5 million people is expected to be reached by these services. The innovative feature of this project is the introduction of an improved primary health care management concept for the health care network. This concept promotes the principles of community participation in the choice of services; maximum delegation of health care responsibility to non-professionals; regular home visits by health auxiliaries; and the coordination of health care with the development activities of other ministries. The emphasis will be on providing more cost-effective preventive care directed towards families. The system of regular home visits will permit these families--most of whom have had little access to health care in the past--to be better informed on good health practices and ways to improve their diet, as well as on family planning methods. Previous World Bank loans to Peru for rural and urban development have included health care components. Among these, the Puno Rural Development Project of 1980 provided $1.12 million for the several primary health care facilities, and the program loan of 1979 helped finance the importation of drugs for malaria and tuberculosis. The World Bank loan is for 17 years, including four years of grace, at a variable interest rate linked to the cost of borrowing. It also carrie' an annual commitment charge of 0.75% on undisbursed balances, and includes a front-end fee of 1.5% on the amount of the loan. NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U,S. dollar equivalents.