The European Union has disbursed 1.368 million euros (EC$4.4M) to Grenada, the first tranche of grant assistance under the 11th European Development Fund towards reform of the country’s health care system.

The overall grant amount allocated by the EU under the 11th EDF is 4.8 million euros (EC$15.4M), with 3.4 million euros (EC$11M) earmarked for the health sector as budget support, and the remainder going as technical support to the government and non-state actors.

EU Ambassador Daniela Tramacere said: “As long time partners, the EU is pleased to assist Grenada with the modernisation of its health sector, especially in reducing the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases”.

With this grant assistance, the EU will support the development of Grenada’s National Health Reform Programme with emphasis on preventative health. The overall objective is to widen the range of primary health care services accessible at the community level. Specifically it will include improving the capacity of the government to sustainably finance the health sector; enhance the policy and legislative environment; improve service delivery with emphasis on quality and access care; and improving governance for the efficient management of primary health care. The benefits are expected to be of particular importance to vulnerable groups that have challenges accessing primary health services in rural community.

The main health sector output will be implementation of the National Primary Health Care Policy, with specific outputs pertaining to the training of family nurse practitioners, implementation of inter-sectoral programs and the formulation of National Health Insurance legislation.

In January, EU Ambassador Daniela Tramacere along with Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell signed the financing agreement related to this development assistance. Further disbursements of this assistance are expected in 2019. Over the years, the EU has contributed EUR 88 million (EC$283M) of grants to Grenada.