Following the successful negotiation with the World Bank by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and Health and Medical Services over the past weeks, an additional financing of US$8 million (Approximately SBD64million) to the US$5milion (SBD40million) provided by World Bank in 2021, has been recently approved by the World Bank to further support the current COVID-19 response and work on going beyond the pandemic to strengthening the health systems in Solomon Islands.
Health’s Permanent Secretary Pauline McNeil acknowledged the additional support by the World Bank as timely as the country is now facing 2nd wave of COVID-19 infection caused by the Omicron variant which spreads faster and even affects children as young as 2 months old, though less deadly than Delta.
“This additional financing, will gear towards enhancing the sector’s capacity and capabilities to effectively manage our COVID-19 patients, intensify the roll out of COVID-19 vaccination, support the ongoing logistical and operational costs of pandemic response efforts and of course ramp up COVID-19 risk communication activities at the community level”,