Belize to Improve Efficiency, Quality and Access to Health Services with IDB Support

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a US$17.36 million program to enhance the healthcare system in Belize, which will benefit 300,000 people, including about 37,000 migrants and 42,000 indigenous peoples. 

The program seeks to improve the health of the Belizean population by improving the efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery and promoting access to key health services. Particularly, it will foster improvements in the Primary Healthcare model, with a focus on reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health, non-communicable diseases, accident and emergency services, and surgeries.  A gender perspective will be incorporated, focusing on women experiencing violence, men, and women with mental health conditions.

Additionally, it includes updating the National Health Strategic Plan, developing a centralized hospital costing system to improve financial management and resource allocation, and improving the supply chain of medicines and supplies, including procurement, to ensure their timely availability.

This program will enhance the access to outpatient, inpatient, and long-term care by revising and updating the healthcare delivery model and strengthening the Community Health Workers platform in rural areas. The program will also finance infrastructure improvements and equipping four health facilities and adapt them to climate change and public health emergencies.

In relation of human resources matters, the program will finance scholarships to train health workers, managers, and officials from the Ministry of Health and Wellness.  Moreover, to promote the improvement and availability of health human resources in rural areas, this initiative will update the Human Resources for Health strategic plan and develop and implement a performance monitoring and evaluation system.

The project will also improve the Belizean Health Information System to optimize clinical workflows and data capture and retrieval, improving data quality through updated standard operating procedures and automated reports and dashboards. It will also design and implement a change management strategy to promote the uptake of existing and new features of the Belizean Health Information System, assessing the digital health governance and developing key strategic plans and policies, and upgrading hardware, data servers, and network infrastructure.

The financial package includes a US$10.36 million IDB loan, US$3.36 million non-reimbursable financing from the IDB Grant Facility and a US$7 million loan from the Korean Infrastructure Development Co-Financing Facility for Latin America and the Caribbean.