Health Sector

Health Sector
Updated: 5 November 2009

ADB's health sector operations aim to support and strengthen efforts to improve the health of the poor, women, children, and indigenous peoples in the region.

Financial support is provided both at country and regional levels for health sector related interventions in its developing member countries through:

• loan projects
• capacity building
• technical assistance grants.

ADB Support for Health under Strategy 2020

Health plays an important role in human development and inclusive growth. Strategy 2020 emphasizes the well-defined role ADB can play in improving health through its core activities, relying on its institutional skills and comparative advantages to complement other partners in supporting developing member countries.

A recent example is ADB's approval of $50 million loan to the Philippines to improve health care in the Philippines through innovative financing mechanisms, better economic governance and public expenditure management, and partnerships among institutions.

The alignment of ADB's health sector portfolio with its core activities are explained in the Operational Plan for Improving Health Access and Outcomes under Strategy 2020 [ PDF: 122kb | 18 pages ].

Health Sector Sites

HIV/AIDS is a serious global epidemic. While the spread of HIV/AIDS in Asia has not been as rapid as in Africa, Asia, with some 8.3 million people living with HIV, cannot be complacent about the disease. Read more about how ADB supports the prevention and control of AIDS.	Bird flu continues to pose a significant threat to human health and economic activity in the region and beyond. Learn about how ADB is strengthening regional and national capacities to combat Bird flu and Emerging Diseases. Read more about Bird Flu. Read more about SARS.	Malnutrition remains a major concern to governments in Asia and the Pacific. Improved nutrition can improve the health, and raise the performance of children in school and later in life. Read more about how ADB assists in improving Nutrition in its developing member countries.	Every year 9.2 million children in the world die before their fifth birthday, as do more than half a million pregnant women. Learn about how ADB is working with partners in this region to improve maternal, newborn and child health. Visit the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health site.

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