The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved an additional financing package of $42 million to support the delivery of affordable and high-quality health services in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The second additional financing package for the Health Services Sector Development Program comprises a concessional loan worth $35 million and a $7 million grant sourced from the Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable developing member countries.
“For over a decade, ADB has been supporting PNG’s health system to deliver improved rural health services,” ADB Senior Health Specialist Inez Mikkelsen-Lopez. “The second additional financing builds on ADB’s prior investments in the rural health sector on training, management capacity building, and climate-smart civil works.”
The original investment program aims to achieve a more sustainable and efficient health care system, including building two district hospitals and six health centers, which would benefit over 250,000 people living in remote areas. The first additional financing, through a cofinancing grant from the Government of Australia, expanded the scope of health facility upgrades, by extending the network of rural health services to include one more health center and eight community health posts.
This second additional financing will scale up the project by extending the network of rural health services to include an additional district hospital. The ADB financing will also help establish a national reference laboratory to improve diagnostic and regional surveillance capacity and extend health workforce training.
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. Deficiencies in health sector governance, weak public financial management, and fragmented funds flows are also being addressed through the program.
