The $59.1m agreement covers the period from 2016-2020 and will complement the country’s National Health Plan, which spans the same timeframe. Liberia’s finance ministry also announced it had set up a dedicated account for the money to accelerate its disbursement into the health sector.
Amara Konneh, Liberia’s finance and development planning minister, said the agreement will both improve the health sector’s performance at central and sub-national levels and increase the use of facility and community-based health services, as well as having a positive impact on public financial management in the sector.
The dedicated account, the first of its kind in the country, will see the funds being managed entirely by the ministry of health and will aim to move all of USAID’s disbursements within four days.
Anthony Chan, USAID’s Liberia mission director, said the account will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency’s aid to Liberia and in turn increase performance and accountability in the health sector.
The funding follows a previous $42m financing agreement, spanning 2011-2015, also to the Liberian health sector, which supported the successful implementation of Liberia’s National Health and Social Welfare Plan at the time.
Bernice Dahn, Liberia’s minister of health, said the funding had enabled the country to make “many gains” over the four-year period, improving health services in three cities that account for a third of the Liberian population.
