IDB approves $300 million to improve health care Buenos Aires, Argentina

• The loan seeks to improve access and coverage of public health services for the population of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina

The IDB approved a $300 million loan to improve access to public health services for the Province of Buenos Aires (PBA).

The project aims to integrate public health services of the first, second, and third levels of care as a network of services that prioritizes healthcare for the population with exclusive public coverage. In addition, the initiative seeks to expand the service capacity for the prevention, detection, and care of COVID-19.

In Argentina, as in other countries, the pandemic reduced the effective coverage of basic health services, which has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. The Province of Buenos Aires (PBA) is the largest and most populous province in the country, home to about 40% of the population (17.5 million people). About a third of this population has their only option for medical coverage in the public health services.

Integrating health services is one of the key strategies for countries to achieve universal health coverage. This approach makes it possible to address the challenges of access, efficiency, quality, and equity faced by health systems in the world.

The program will directly benefit about 6.6 million people with exclusive public coverage, and indirectly 17.5 million people, considering the universal scope of some interventions.

Supporting vulnerable populations and recovering the region's health systems are two objectives that the IDB Group sets in its Vision 2025, a roadmap to achieve inclusive growth in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The loan has a 4-year disbursement period, a 5.5-year grace period, and an interest rate based on LIBOR.