World Bank to give USD 521 mn to India for disease control

New Delhi, Feb 13 (PTI) The World Bank will provide USD
521 million (about Rs 2,600 crore) credit to India for
controlling diseases like malaria and polio in the country.

The agreement to this effect was signed Friday by
Economic Affairs Joint Secretary Alok Sheel and Rachid
Benmessaoud, World Bank's operations advisor in India.

The credit, which is designed to help India
significantly, would boost effective prevention, diagnosis,
and treatment services for malaria and kala azar and increase
polio vaccinations, the lending agency said in a release.

It is provided from the International Development
Association, the World Bank's concessionary lending arm, and
it carries a 0.75 percent service fee, a 10-year grace period,
and a maturity of 35 years.

The amount is provided to the Indian government for the
National Vector Borne Disease Control and Polio Eradication
Support Project, it added.

The project, designed in cooperation with the Indian
government, World Health Organisation and the global fund to
fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, would help India fight
three major diseases that are killing thousands of Indians
each year.

The project will be implemented in 93 of the most malaria
endemic districts in 11 states, which account for about 90
percent of malaria cases in India.

It is expected to improve malaria prevention and
treatment for over 100 million people living in these areas.

India's National Health Policy calls for reducing
mortality from malaria by 50 per cent and eliminating kala
azar by 2010.

The government has designed a significantly strengthened
programme to achieve these goals, which will be supported
through this project.

The kala azar component will focus on 46 districts in
three states -- Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal-- that
account for practically all kala azar cases in the country.

The polio eradication component of the project will be
used to purchase polio vaccines from UNICEF (acting as
supplier) to cover vaccine requirements in the country from
2008 to 2011.

This is expected to make a major contribution to the
eradication of polio in India, the release added. PTI BSP
PMR
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