IDB Provides Grant For Formulation Of 10-Year Plan For Health Sector

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has provided J$29.94 million (US$250,000) in grant funding support for the Government’s formulation of a 10-year health sector development plan for Jamaica.

This provision is being facilitated under a technical cooperation agreement and will finance the sector’s strengthening, through strategic planning to improve systems and structures at primary and secondary facilities.

The aim is to better position the Ministry of Health to administer the delivery of more affordable quality health care, with a particular focus on non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control.

Other key partners are the Ministry Finance and Planning, and the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).

Health Minister, Hon. Horace Dalley; IDB Chief of Operations, Harold Arzu; and PIOJ Director General, Colin Bullock,  signed the agreement on November 11 during a ceremony at the Terra Nova Hotel in St. Andrew.

Mr. Dalley advised that the plan’s development will be spearheaded by a Special Steering Committee, comprising sector representatives, who are expected to prepare and submit the document within the next six months.

The Minister said this is to  facilitate public participation at all levels in the plan’s refinement, through consultations with sector representatives, communities, and trade unions, among other interests, as well as organisations such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), “who we are going to ask to help us.”

He thanked the IDB for its support, pointing out that the institution has been “a constant and reliable partner with Jamaica.”

Mr. Dalley also paid tribute to his predecessor, and current Labour and Social Security Minister, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, under whose stewardship the plan was conceptualised.

In his remarks, Mr. Bullock also thanked the IDB for “its partnership and support of national development in Jamaica,” adding that the PIOJ is committed to the programme’s implementation. “We look forward to the transformative impact it will have on the health sector, and the livelihoods, and productivity of the Jamaican people,” he said.

For his part, Mr. Arzu said the IDB anticipated the project’s implementation, “so that we can deepen our engagement in the health sector with the Government and people of Jamaica.”

Responding on behalf of the regional health authorities, North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) Chairman, Leon Gordon, described the agreement’s signing as a “momentous occasion.”

He said the regional Chairmen and Boards have every confidence and every faith in the 10-year development plan.