Improvements in Health Care and Digital Government to Strengthen Recovery in Argentina with World Bank support

WASHINGTON D.C., March 30, 2021 - The World Bank Board of Directors today approved a US $ 250 million loan to strengthen the public health care system that serves 17 million people. An additional US$ 80 million loan will support efforts to improve the efficiency of and access to digital government services.

'It is key to strengthen public health systems and other areas of the State through technology and innovation, since this impacts on greater and better services to our population, not only to face the emergency of the pandemic, but also to promote presentations in a sustainable way in the long term, 'said Gustavo Beliz, Argentina's Strategic Planning Secretary.

The financing for the 'Supporting Effective Health Care Coverage' project will improve access to equitable, quality medical care throughout the country. The project supports maternal and child health, as well as the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases (hypertension and cancer, among others), with a focus on the most vulnerable families. It will also help advance the implementation of digital medical records, thus promoting the integration of national and provincial information systems.

'Our goal is to increase the tools currently available to enable access of millions of people to key services to improve their quality of life, and to ensure that these services are not interrupted even in emergency situations such as the current pandemic,' said Jordan Schwartz, World Bank Director for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The 'Digital Inclusion and Innovation in Public Services' project seeks to improve the efficiency of and access to digital services to benefit 12 million people and nearly 90,000 companies. In 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of users who carry out procedures online tripled and people registered in the 'Mi Argentina' portal increased from 1.5 to 5 million. Given the growing demand, this project will support the sub-national expansion of remote access platforms (Mi Argentina, Trámites a Distancia and Sistema Nacional de Turnos). It will also contribute to the implementation and improvement of online systems, such as document management and e-procurement (Compr.AR and Contrat.AR), digital signatures and digital civil registries, as well as to the expansion of the network of digital service points throughout the country to improve digital accessibility for the most vulnerable population.

Since 2004, the World Bank has supported the Argentinian government's efforts to achieve effective universal coverage of its health care programs. Since 2017, the Bank has also assisted the digital government strategy through the 'Modernization and Innovation for Better Public Services' project, which has supported the digital transformation of services such as administrative files, procurement and citizen services.

Both are variable spread loans, with a repayment period of 32 years and a seven-year grace period.

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