WASHINGTON, June 28, 2024 – The World Bank has greenlit a significant credit from the International Development Association (IDA)*, totaling $100 million, to bolster Mali’s healthcare sector. This funding aims to enhance the availability and utilization of vital reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, adolescent, and nutritional health services. Additionally, it will strengthen preparedness for health emergencies in specific regions across the nation.
Operating under a Results-Based Financing (RBF) framework, the initiative, officially named “Promoting Inclusive Health System Resilience for All in Mali, Keneya Yiriwali” (in Bambara), is designed to elevate the overall quality of essential healthcare provisions. This particularly focuses on reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, adolescent, and nutrition (RMNCAH+N) services, by broadening coverage and improving standards across various levels of the health pyramid. The project will finance necessary resources and performance-based payments in targeted regions and schools, leveraging available funds to boost service delivery efficiency and accessibility. Its expanded scope includes climate-vulnerable areas, regional hospitals, and school infirmaries, with a distinct emphasis on adolescent health, climate-related emergencies, and robust pandemic readiness and response. Ultimately, Keneya Yiriwali seeks to optimize the quality of health sector expenditures through enhanced budgetary management, consolidation of health financing, and improved information systems that link financial allocations with performance outcomes.
“The expansion of Results-Based Financing, which now integrates both energy-related climate risks and emergency risk management, is a critical driver for enhancing the provision of quality healthcare services to communities through the Keneya Yiriwali project. This initiative builds upon the successes of the Project to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage (PACSU), which significantly improved healthcare access, quality metrics, medicine availability, and patient satisfaction across nine administrative regions,” explained Clara de Sousa, the World Bank’s Country Director for Mali. “RBF has proven to be a transformative mechanism, empowering health facilities, fostering local recruitment, advancing infrastructure development, and equipping laboratories throughout Mali.”
The total financial commitment for this IDA operation stands at $125 million. This comprises the $100 million IDA credit and a $25 million grant from the Global Financing Facility (GFF), with $15 million of the GFF contribution coming from the Government of the Netherlands through a co-financing arrangement. This strategic partnership was instrumental in the effective implementation of the RBF approach via the PACSU program in Mali from 2020 to 2024.
“Building on previous support, the GFF grant and co-financing from the Government of the Netherlands will ensure strong alignment in Mali to improve health services for women, children, and adolescents,” stated Luc Laviolette, Head of the GFF Secretariat. “Investing in a more resilient and inclusive health system can help guarantee that the needs of the hardest-to-reach and most climate-vulnerable communities are met.”
Keneya Yiriwali is set to primarily benefit women, adolescents, and children, impacting a total population of 15.4 million people, including 3 million children under five and 3.4 million women aged 15 to 49. Its coverage area will extend beyond the regions initially supported by PACSU—Gao, Mopti, Douentza, Bandiagara, San, Segou, Koulikoro, Dioila, and Nara—to new regions such as Tombouctou, Bougouni, Koutiala, and Sikasso, which exhibit the highest poverty rates, as well as Commune VI within the Bamako district.
*The International Development Association (IDA) is a World Bank institution dedicated to assisting the world’s poorest nations. Established in 1960, IDA provides grants and low- or zero-interest loans to fund projects and programs aimed at stimulating economic growth, alleviating poverty, and enhancing the lives of the most disadvantaged. IDA is a leading financier for 76 of the globe’s poorest countries, with 39 located in Africa. IDA resources positively impact 1.6 billion people. Since its inception, IDA has backed development activities in 113 countries, with annual commitments averaging $21 billion over the past three years, approximately 61% of which has been directed to Africa.