$130m ADB loan to improve public health services

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh signed two agreements for $130 million soft loan yesterday to help improve public and environmental health services in Bangladesh's large cities, says a press release.

The Manila-based lending agency is also providing a $5 lakh technical assistance grant, which would be used for capacity building of the local government division and the city corporations.

Secretary to Economic Relations Division (ERD) M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and Officer-in-Charge of ADB's Bangladesh Resident Mission Nurul Huda signed the deal on behalf of the government and ADB respectively at a function at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city.

The concessional ADB loan would support the government's Urban Public and Environmental Health Sector Development Programme, which would provide benefits to 10.3 million people in six divisional cities covering 34 percent of all urban areas and a number of municipalities.

The programme would help make progress on millennium development goals (MDGs) relating to child and maternal health care, communicable diseases and urban sanitation by reducing child mortality and morbidity; and reducing the prevalence of water-borne and food-related diseases in the selected urban areas.

The reforms under the programme would help achieve the sustainable provision and operation of improved public and environmental health services in urban areas, including all the city corporations and the municipalities.

The reforms include strengthening institutional arrangements, improving financial sustainability, improving public and environmental health service delivery, and strengthening governance and management.

Municipal finances would be strengthened to enable sustainability of urban basic services.

The programme would improve municipal solid waste and medical waste management, food safety, and capacity of the local government division and city corporations for public and environmental health.

The programme's municipal solid waste management component would support primary collection for urban poor, secondary collection and transportation and integrated waste treatment facilities.

The integrated waste treatment would support clean development mechanism by reducing carbon emission and tap carbon credits. Under the food safety component, two food laboratories would be established, one each in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Modern slaughterhouses would be established in each of the six city corporations for preparation and processing of standard quality meat and meat products and other related economic by-products.

Except for a few city states, Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world with more than 1,000 people per square kilometre, and the urban population is expected to rise to 89.5 million by 2030, from only around 37 million in 2008.

As a result of the rapid pace of urbanisation, many people live in poor hygienic conditions and are more vulnerable to health hazards.

“The urban poor are exposed to serious health problems because of weak public and environmental health services, poor sanitation, overcrowding, unhygienic living conditions and other challenges,” said Nurul.

“A burgeoning urban population is only going to make the situation more challenging while the agencies that are mandated to provide urban services have limited institutional and financial capacities.”

ADB is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific region through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration.