The The World Bank has identified HIV/AIDS as a critical part of its assistance strategy for countries. It is helping governments improve the capacity and efficiency of their health systems so that they can tackle a variety of infectious and chronic diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
 Putting HIV/AIDS on national development agendas. The World Bank is working with governments to secure political leadership and commitment for tackling the disease. It is integrating HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis control strategies into national development agendas through multisectoral approaches. The Bank is also partnering with UNAIDS, bilateral agencies and civil society groups to improve the knowledge base for HIV/AIDS and TB work and to catalyze a region-wide response to the dual epidemics.
Providing Strategic Advice
- Regional Support Strategy. This strategy, published in 2003, identifies the potential costs of inaction, the constraints to an effective response, priority actions to resolve such constraints, and the Bank's plans for helping countries do so as part of a multi-institutional effort.
- Sub-regional Studies. As ECA countries vary in terms of the size of their epidemics, political contexts, income per capita, and infrastructure and management capacities, the following sub - regional studies have been conducted: Central Asia, Poland and the Baltics, Southeastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia), a policy note on Georgia, and a study on the economic impact of AIDS in the Russian Federation. Just-in-time analysis of the potential impact of AIDS in Russia caught the attention of president Putin in 2003. Work is underway on a Western Balkan HIV/AIDS study.
- Estimating the economic impact of HIV/AIDS at the country level. Recent experience suggests that information on the likely economic impact of an unchecked epidemic could have a greater effect in securing the attention of policymakers. In Russia, a model to estimate the potential economic consequences of the epidemic has been developed with Russian specialists, under a grant from DFID. Work is underway on thecalculation of the economic cost of AIDS in Ukraine and Central Asia.
- Refining estimates of resource needs. Available information indicates a substantial gap in what is needed for effective interventions on a large scale. The Bank is co-financing with UNAIDS a study of the incremental resource requirements for HIV/AIDS programs in ECA. See also the Report from the Technical Workshop on "Resource Requirements for HIV/AIDS Programs in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region"held at Minsk from November 5-6, 2002.
- Improving access to technical support. Local capacity for developing and implementing programs varies enormously. The Bank has co-financed, with the UNAIDS Secretariat, a Directory of Technical and Managerial Resources to improve access to technical advice for AIDS programs in ECA.
Lending Services
The World Bank is financing several country programs on HIV/AIDS and TB control:
Other projects under preparation:
|
RSS