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World Bank releases 122 mln USD to fight TB in southern Africa

Xinhua, June 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The World Bank has released 122 million U.S. dollars to boost southern Africa's capacity to initiate an effective regional response to Tuberculosis and occupational lung diseases, according to a bank statement seen on Wednesday.

The funds will be channeled to the Southern Africa Tuberculosis and Health System Support Project which will target mining communities and regions with high prevalence rates of TB or HIV and AIDS, transport corridors and cross-border areas in Zambia, Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique, the bank said in the statement released by its office in Zambia.

Primary beneficiaries of the project will be TB-affected individuals and households in line with its goal of supporting the most vulnerable by ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, it added.

"This project characterizes the strong commitment and leadership of the four countries in working across sectors and borders to address these health challenges It also promotes the use of best-buy interventions and facilitates innovations and learning across countries," it said.

Joseph Kasonde, the Zambian health minister said the project offers the country a unique opportunity to collaborate with neighboring countries and regional partners to initiate a coordinated response to TB.

"With emerging global disease threats, the project will also position our countries and the region to respond more effectively to other public health emergencies in addition to TB," he said.

Moustapha Ndiaye, the World Bank country director for regional integration said the project will help the four countries build a truly regional response to an epidemic that knows no borders.

According to him, regional collaboration and the capacity for health systems to monitor, track and share information as well as timely respond to diseases was critical to effective TB control in a region which was at the epicenter of the dual TB and HIV and AIDS epidemic.

The design of the project is drawn on existing country efforts and global lessons in TB control as well as the recent Ebola emergency in West Africa, which demonstrated that collaboration and systems building could help countries to better respond to current and new disease threats. Endit