New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) The World Bank on Friday approved a loan of $286 million for a new programme to enhance access to healthcare for over 90 million people in West Bengal.

The West Bengal Health System Reform Programme Operation will support delivery of personalised healthcare services across the state for people over 30 years through digital tracking measures for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension and diabetes.

It will also bring a patient-centric care approach to the state’s health systems, improve measurement of health outcomes, and boost the resilience of healthcare facilities to extreme weather events.

The $286 million loan from the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a final maturity of 16.5 years, including a grace period of three years, the World Bank said in a statement.

“This programme will help West Bengal deliver more equitable and higher-quality health services, with measurable results for women, adolescents, and people living with non-communicable diseases,” said Paul Procee, the World Bank’s Acting Country Director for India.

“By linking financing to verified outcomes and strengthening governance and climate resilience, the operation addresses both service gaps and systemic constraints that have held back health gains for vulnerable communities. This will have a direct impact on the ability to seek good jobs,” he added.

West Bengal has made sustained health gains in the past two decades, with infant mortality rates declining from 32 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2010-2012 to 19 in 2018–2020.

The total fertility rate is at 1.64 births per woman as of 2019, which is among the lowest in the country. As a result, life expectancy in West Bengal is 72 years, which is higher than the national average.

However, in spite of these gains and high literacy rates among adolescent girls (at 89 per cent), West Bengal has the second-highest rate of adolescent pregnancies in India at 16 per cent, which also drives the maternal mortality ratio at 103 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2018-2020.

The districts of Purulia, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Maldah, and Uttar Dinajpur face critical challenges in reproductive, maternal, and adolescent care.

Earlier this week, the Washington-based multilateral funding agency also approved $680 million loans for three projects in Assam to help the state increase resilience to extreme weather events, improve governance and service delivery, and provide more than four million students with the skills they need to succeed in the workforce.

--IANS

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