Financial Help by AIIB to India

• 09 May 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved US$ 500 million for ‘Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project’ initiated by India.

• The project is expected to help India to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and strengthen its public health preparedness.

Key Points

• Aim:
  
  • The project intends to slow down and limit the spread of Covid-19 in India.
  • It includes an immediate support for enhancement of disease detection capacities, oxygen delivery systems and medicines among others.
  • The project also strives to strengthen India’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) and the capacity to effectively manage future disease outbreaks.
    
    • IDSP aims to strengthen/maintain decentralized laboratory based and IT enabled disease surveillance systems for epidemic prone diseases to monitor disease trends.
  • It also aims to develop capacity and systems to detect existing and emerging zoonoses and upgrade viral research and diagnostic laboratories for testing and research.
    
    • As around 75% of new infectious diseases begin with human-to-animal contacts.
• Beneficiaries:
  
  • The project will cover all States and Union Territories across India and address the needs of infected people, at-risk populations, medical and emergency personnel and service providers, medical and testing facilities, and national and animal health agencies.
• Finances:
  
  • The project is being financed by the World Bank and AIIB in the amount of $1.5 billion, of which $1.0 billion will be provided by the World Bank and $500 million will be provided by AIIB.
• Implementation:
  
  • It will be implemented by the National Health Mission (NHM), the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
    
    • NHM was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and the National Urban Health Mission.
    • NCDC functions as the nodal agency in the country for disease surveillance facilitating prevention and control of communicable diseases under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    • ICMR is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia.
• It is established by the AIIB Articles of Agreement (entered into force Dec. 25, 2015) which is a multilateral treaty. The Parties (57 founding members) to agreement comprise the Membership of the Bank.
• It is headquartered in Beijing and began its operations in January 2016.
• India joined AIIB in 2016 as a regional member of the Bank.
• The members of the Bank have now grown to 102 approved members worldwide.
  
  • Further, fourteen of the G-20 nations are AIIB members including France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
• By investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors in Asia and beyond, it connects people, services and markets that over time will impact the lives of billions and build a better future.

Source: PIB