Commission contributes to the improvement of health and hygiene in Bolivia

Christopher Patten, member of the European Commission, has signed a Financing Agreement amounting to a total of € 30 million for a «programme to support the hygiene and basic health sector» in the Potosí and Tarija departments, the planned duration of which is five years. For this project the Commission will provide € 25 million and the Bolivian Government will provide € 5 million.

The programme encompasses the following elements:

• carrying out detailed studies on the health situation and the means available to improve it, as well as drafting a health plan for each department;

• improving the drinking-water supply and sanitation systems, together with hygiene and health information campaigns (in particular on the use of water);

• increasing the health system's operational capacity by improving infrastructures (dispensaries, hospitals), equipment and the availability of medicines as well as medical staff training;

• strengthening the institutions, by providing training for hospital administration, as well as including civil society in the reform process.

Bolivian health indicators are among the lowest in Latin America (infant mortality rates, death of the mother or child during child-birth, epidemics), in particular in the rural areas. The departments of Potosí and Tarija, two of the poorest in Bolivia, have a combined population of 1.1 million. This programme is an integral part of the Bolivian Government's, and the European Community's, fight against poverty in Bolivia. The progamme responds to a request to support the current reform process of the health sector in the country and is co-ordinated with projects supported by other donors such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.

Bolivia, the poorest country in South America, is the principal recipient of community assistance in the region. The main programmes are: financial and technical co-operation (approximately €18 million/year), a food security programme (approximately €15 million/year), support for the NGOs (approximately €5 million/year), and economic co-operation. Bolivia, signatory of the framework agreement between the European Community and the countries of the Andean Community, also benefits from a preferential trade regime (System of Generalised Preferences⁽¹⁾).

^{(1)Council regulation (ec) no 2820/98 of 21 december 1998 applying a multiannual scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period 1 july 1999 to 31 december 2001.}