With AFD, 14 Million People Benefited from Better Access to Healthcare in 2018
published on 22 November 2019
In 2018, Agence Française de Développement committed 497 million euros to healthcare around the world, resulting in better access for some 14 million people.
Healthcare and social protection are at the heart of AFD’s actions around the world today, even as it stands at the crossroads of global demographic, economic and environmental change.
AFD is involved in guaranteeing quality care and ensuring that everyone has access to it, including the most vulnerable populations.
● Reinforcing Healthcare Systems
In 2018, €379 million were committed to reinforcing healthcare systems through subsidies, long-term loans, guarantees and investments.
Among the many projects it supports, AFD has continued to back Pasco, in the Comoro Islands. This ambitious healthcare support program has made it possible to renovate hospitals and health clinics, to provide equipment and medication, to train nurses and midwives and to institute a third-party payment system giving women nearly-free access to obstetrical medicine.
In northern and central Mali, a country with severely degraded healthcare services (personnel shortages, lack of equipment and drug supplies), the Minka Peace and Resilience Fund has provided financing for a project ensuring access to healthcare services for the most vulnerable populations.
● Accessible Healthcare for All
Another priority component: developing social protection systems (€107 million granted in 2018) under the long-term objective of quality healthcare accessible to all.
Iin November 2018, AFD granted the Georgian authorities a €35 million public policy loan—the first tranche of a three-year program—in support of the reforms in the fields of social protection, healthcare and assistance to internally displaced persons.
Two initiatives were financed through the Innovation Facility for NGOs:
- In Cambodia, a new project launched by the NGO Gret aims to expand the social protection system to workers in the informal sector — staring with tuk-tuk drivers and domestic employees.
- In Kenya, AFD has continued to support the Medical Credit Fund (MCF), a foundation that provides assistance to many small and medium-sized healthcare centers set up near communities. Such is the case in Githurai, near Nairobi, where AFD financed a subsidy of €1 million and a €3 million loan.
● Prioritizing Maternal and Child Health
The commitments in favor of maternal and child health made with the Muskoka Initiative (2011-2015) have been consolidated, with €12 million dedicated in 2018.
AFD also financed a project for a successful pan-African radio and television series on health education through entertainment, C’est la Vie (That’s Life).
