Guyana launches World Bank-funded One Health project to boost health resilience

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 March 2025, 22:32 by Writer

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a new project to strengthen health resilience in Guyana, the Washington, DC-headquartered financial institution said Wednesday night.

The US$ 22-million Guyana One Health Project will focus on empowering the country to prevent, prepare for, and respond to health emergencies. The project will adopt a One Health approach, which integrates human, animal, and environmental health systems.

Guyana faces an evolving set of public health threats. Non-communicable diseases account for 70 percent of all deaths, while infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria continue to pose major risks. The threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – when medicines like antibiotics no longer work against infections – is especially pressing.

In 2019, 147 deaths in Guyana were directly attributable to AMR and 579 deaths were associated with it, making the country the second highest in AMR-related mortality in the Caribbean.

Further, despite a largely government-funded healthcare system that serves around 80 percent of the population, hinterland regions still experience critical shortages of healthcare workers. The country’s health information system is also mainly paper-based, making it difficult to track patient care and ensure continuity—especially during emergencies.

To address these challenges, the World Bank and the Government of Guyana, with the support of the Pandemic Fund, have launched a new project, which integrates and modernizes Guyana’s public health infrastructure. The Guyana One Health Project will further upgrade and decentralize the laboratory network, including transforming the National Public Health Reference Laboratory into a state-of-the-art facility.

Veterinary and wildlife diagnostic capacity will also be expanded utilizing the One Health approach, improving the ability to detect zoonotic diseases—those that spread from animals to humans—as well as illnesses such as dengue and malaria. Additionally, laboratories will be weather-resilient and energy-efficient, ensuring continuity of operations even in extreme weather conditions. The project builds upon previous partnerships, including the now concluded Guyana COVID-19 Emergency Response Project.

“A healthy and productive society is critical for economic growth,” said Diletta Doretti, World Bank Group Representative for Guyana. “This project builds upon earlier health projects which addressed vulnerabilities in the health system, applying a One Health approach, and directly contributes to the nation’s productivity and long-term prosperity.”

The project will also work to digitize the country’s health surveillance systems, replacing outdated paper records with integrated, real-time platforms that link data from across human and animal health sectors critical for addressing AMR. Further, it will establish regional surveillance units nationwide, helping to detect and respond to emerging outbreaks closer to their source. Investments will also improve disease monitoring at points of entry, ensuring Guyana’s borders are better equipped to manage cross-border health threats.

Alongside these system upgrades, a new generation of health professionals—from laboratory scientists to port health officers—will be trained and equipped with the skills to detect, report, and respond to outbreaks. The training will go beyond technical expertise to include how to identify and support individuals affected by gender-based violence, a risk that often increases during crises.

“The Pandemic Fund is pleased to collaborate with the Government of Guyana and the World Bank on this innovative partnership, which marks another milestone in our efforts to contain infectious disease outbreaks, prevent pandemics and save lives. The US$15.6 million grant from the Pandemic Fund is unlocking US$96.5 million, or over six times as much, in domestic and international financing to support Guyana’s efforts,” said Priya Basu, Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund.

Recognizing that pandemic prevention must go beyond government systems, the project will support awareness campaigns across farming communities, schools and households, as well as the private sector. These efforts will promote responsible antibiotic use, good hygiene practices, and safe interactions with wildlife and livestock—ensuring that public health is a shared responsibility.

The Guyana One Health Project is financed through a US$ 15 million grant from the Pandemic Fund, along with a US$ 7 million credit from the World Bank’s International Development Association.

The Pandemic Fund is a first-of-its-kind multilateral financing mechanism dedicated exclusively to strengthening critical pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities and capabilities of low- and middle-income countries through investments and technical support at the national, regional, and global levels. The Fund provides a dedicated stream of additional, long-term financing for investments in areas such as infectious diseases surveillance, laboratories and diagnostics, and health workforce strengthening. Since it was established in 2022, the Pandemic Fund has awarded grants totaling $885 million, mobilizing an additional US$6 billion in resources for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response investments for 75 countries across six regions. A total of 47 projects have received funding, through two rounds, to date.