Mauritania Health System Support Project

The quality and coverage of health services in Mauritania are often inadequate due to a lack of equipment and qualified staff in already scarce health facilities. Moreover, the population’s use of the few existing health services is lowest among the poor households which predominantly live in rural areas. The presence of refugee populations fleeing conflicts in neighbouring countries weakens the Mauritanian health system even further.

Health services for host and refugee communities

This project provides for a financial top-up of USD 23 million to the World Bank’s ongoing Health System Support Project “INAYA” (P156165) in order to scale up current project activities. It specifically focuses on expanding the utilisation as well as the quality of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health and nutrition (RMNCH) services for both refugees and host communities in the Hodh el Chargui wilaya. The parent project, INAYA, is a USD 19 million operation in its second year of implementation.

• This financial top-up is part of the G5 Sahel’s Emergency Development Programme (PDU) – an initiative called to life by the governments of the G5 Sahel countries and financially supported by the members of the Sahel Alliance.
• A results-based approach to strengthen health services
• The overall development objective of the project is to improve the delivery of basic social services and infrastructure for refugees and host communities in the Hodh el Chargui wilaya. This will be achieved by adapting INAYA’s Results-Based Financing approach (RBF) to strengthen health services and the institutional capacity of the Mauritanian Government’s social services and selected infrastructure in the wilaya. A specific focus is given to addressing health needs of refugees and reinforcing the health facilities of the M’bera camp where most of the refugee population lives.
• The project will also provide Conditional Cash Transfers to poor households in order to promote the use of vaccinations, birth registrations and nutrition services through the National Social Transfers programme.

For more information, please download the project sheet.