The Tribune

THE government and the Inter-American Development Bank have partnered in a $20m loan contract “to help reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by COVID-19 and to lessen its impact on public health”.

According to a press release from the IDB, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis signed a loan programme to strengthen the Ministry of Health’s response management, improve case detection and monitoring, support the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and the vaccination plan, assist the actions to break the illness’s transmission chain and improve service delivery capacity.

“We congratulate the government of The Bahamas for its unyielding efforts to protect the population. This vaccination facility is an opportunity to better position The Bahamas’ health sector to more rapidly and resiliently respond to the challenges of COVID-19,” said IDB Country Representative Daniela Carrera-Marquis in the press release.

“The global pandemic is not over, so strengthening the nation’s health system has to remain a priority. The IDB remains committed to supporting the government in changing the trajectory of the pandemic and bolstering the economy.”

According to the IDB, this programme has four components that include strengthening the response leadership at the country level by enhancing decision-making capabilities, surveillance, assessment, public health management, and multi-sectoral coordination. The programme will improve case detection and monitoring by expanding the Ministry of Health’s capacity for screening, case detection, contact tracing, and tracking of Covid-19 cases.

It will also support the COVID-19 vaccination strategic plan to reach the target vaccination of the prioritised groups as well as the procurement of vaccines, the design, and implementation of a public communications campaign, epidemiological surveillance at entry points, and the necessary supplies. These actions will break the chain of transmission of the illness. Lastly, the programme is expected to bolster service delivery capacity for COVID-19 cases and strengthen essential care services continuity.

The programme will be executed in two years and will benefit the Bahamian population through supporting the actions to mitigate the COVID-19 spread, facilitating vaccine uptake, and increasing access to essential care, the IDB said.