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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The World Bank Tuesday approved a US$200 million project to support the Government of Jordan maintaining the delivery of critical primary and secondary health services to poor uninsured Jordanians and Syrian refugees at Ministry of Health facilities.

The project represents an additional financing to the Jordan Emergency Health Project (US$50 million) approved back in June 2017, which was also part of a larger US$150 million project financed in parallel by the Islamic Development Bank.

Over the past year, the project provided vital health care services to target populations, 2.1 million primary health care services and 2.9 million secondary health care services.

The additional financing includes a contribution of US$58.9 million from the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) and will help the Ministry of Health continue to provide critical health care services to target populations at a time when the influx of Syrian refugees to the country continues to put severe strains on the delivery of vital basic services.

"The Government of Jordan is committed to taking actions on its commitment to universal health coverage and human capital development for all population groups," said Saroj Kumar Jha, World Bank Mashreq Regional Director.

"The additional financing builds on the parent project performance and rapid implementation progress to help Jordan meet the additional strain on its health system and prevent the reversal of the substantial gains achieved by the sector over the last decade" he added.

The project will reimburse the Ministry of Health through results-based financing for primary and secondary health care inpatient and outpatient services provided at health care facilities nationwide.

"The project will allow the Government of Jordan to foster human capital outcomes with an emphasis on strengthening human resources for primary health care. It will support the Ministry of Health efforts to improve the coverage and quality of services provided", said Fernando Montenegro Torres, World Bank Senior Health Economist and Task Team Leader.

The Jordan Emergency Health Project Additional Financing brings the World Bank Group’s total commitments to Jordan to US$2.98 billion, of which US$287.1 million are financed by the GCFF. Launched in 2016, the GCFF provides concessional financing to middle income countries hosting large numbers of refugees at rates usually reserved for the poorest countries.