Project Information Document - Belize COVID-19 Response Project - P177987 (English)

The review did authorize the team to appraise and negotiate B. Introduction and Context Country Context 1. The Project Information Document (PID) outlines the proposal for a loan to the Government of Belize (GoB) for the Belize COVID-19 Response Project (P177987). [...] This Project is prepared under the terms and guidelines defined by the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Program (SPRP) using the Multiphase Programmatic Approach (MPA), approved by the WBG’s Board of Executive Directors on April 2, 2020, and the Additional Financing to the SPRP for vaccines approved on October 13, 2020. [...] The relief effort included the introduction of a temporary unemployment program and the expansion of transfers to the most vulnerable population groups through the Boost Conditional Cash Transfer. [...] Sectoral and Institutional Context 6. Life expectancy in Belize has increased over the past decade with the upward trend mainly driven by reductions in childhood mortality, but a rapidly rising burden of non-communicable disease threatens the financial viability of the healthcare system and puts large parts of the population at risk of severe COVID-19 illness and death. [...] Jan 11, 2022 Page 4 of 10 The World Bank Belize COVID-19 Response Project (P177987) younger than 70 years.11 Diabetes is of particular concern: at 16.5 percent of the population, Belize has the highest prevalence in North America and the Caribbean and about half of females die from diabetes-related causes.12 The rising burden of non-communicable diseases not only poses a substantive risk to the fi