Xinhua, Manila :
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) said on Friday that its Board of Directors has approved a total financing package of 195 million U.S. dollars “to support the delivery of accessible, affordable, and high-quality health services” in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The financing package is comprised of two regular loans worth 100 million U.S. dollars and 45.10 million U.S. dollars and a 49.9-million-U.S. dollar concessional loan – all sourced from ADB’s ordinary capital resources balance sheet – to help PNG’s efforts in achieving universal health coverage, the Manila-based bank said.
Despite a period of high economic growth in recent years, averaging 6 percent annually from 20062015, the ADB said PNG failed to achieve its targets for the Millennium Development Goals on maternal and child health. Life expectancy in the country relative to income is low at 65 years and the estimated burden of disease is dominated by chronic diseases, including stroke and heart disease, together with conditions of poverty such as pneumonia and neonatal conditions, the ADB said. It said limited investments in the country’s health infrastructure as well as suboptimal health sector governance also undermine service delivery. The Health Services Sector Development Program combines a policy-based operation and project financing to support critical sector reforms and investments in PNG, enabling the long-term sustainability and effective use of the country’s health sector financing.
