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Health Care Project Will Save Lives In Rural Viet Nam

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (9 November 2000) - Millions of rural Vietnamese will have better access to health care as a result of a US$68.3 million loan approved today by the Asian Development Bank.

The Rural Health Project "will support Government efforts to provide health services for the poor -- women, children and ethnic minorities who live in villages that have no access to such care," says Indu Bhushan, ADB's mission leader for the project. "Infant mortality in rural areas is 50 percent higher than in urban centers and many children die from easily preventable diseases."

Poor health is a major cause of poverty in rural areas. Rural folk are four times more likely to get sick than urban dwellers. Malnutrition affects three times more children under four in the countryside than in the towns. Sexually transmitted diseases -- such as HIV/AIDS - is on the rise among women, especially along border areas.

The project will upgrade or build 99 inter-commune polyclinics, 74 district health centers and 13 regional hospitals. It will also train 7,500 health care providers, mostly women. At the district level, the project will also strengthen surgery, emergency, obstetrical, gynecological and diagnostic services.

A second component will strengthen the institutional capacity for public health care by coordinating and standardizing management systems, training programs and innovative financing approaches. A third component will boost prevention by promoting public awareness and community participation in matters relating to reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, injury prevention, smoking, nutrition and food hygiene. It will provide laboratories for food testing and training for epidemiologists working in provincial preventive centers.

In addition, the project includes the support to free health cards to 800,000 poor people and a pilot scheme to develop sustainable rural community health insurance.

The total project cost is US$98.7 million. ADB is financing 69 percent, with the balance coming from the government, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Health Organization. The ADB loan will come from its Asian Development Fund. It is repayable over 32 years, including a grace period of 8 years. The interest rate will be one percent per annum during the grace period and 1.5 percent per annum thereafter. The Ministry of Health will be the executing agency for the project, which is scheduled for completion in June 2006.

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