WASHINGTON DC (WB press service) – The World Bank on Thursday approved a $100 mln grant from the International Development Association (IDA) to help the Afghan government. The objectives of the project are to expand the scope, quality, and coverage of health services provided to the population, particularly to the poor, in the project areas, and to enhance the stewardship functions of the Ministry of Public Health.

The development objectives of the System Enhancement for Health Action in Transition Project for Afghanistan (project ID: P129663) are to expand the scope, quality and coverage of health services provided to the population, particularly to the poor, in the project areas, and to enhance the stewardship functions of the ministry of public health (MOPH). Financing is needed for implementation of the basic package of health services (BPHS) and essential package of hospital services (EPHS) through contracting out and contracting in arrangements both in rural and urban areas in provinces supported by the European union (EU), the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) and the World Bank, covering a total of twenty one provinces in the country (out of thirty four provinces). System enhancement for health action in transition (SEHAT) will be a platform nation-wide project, which will allow for financing health services in more provinces if additional resources become available. The project will also strengthen the national health system and ministry of public health’s capacity at central and provincial levels, so it can effectively perform its stewardship functions in the sector.

The project will be implemented in 2/3 of the country over a five year period. The focus of the program is on the public sector with health facilities located within both urban and rural areas. Almost sixty percent of the population of the country lives in the proposed project area. The provinces have geographical variations with mostly mountainous hard to reach terrain and population density varies across the provinces.

Disposal of medical waste, which would be the prime focus from the environmental safeguards perspective, could therefore have implications both from geographical variation and population density.