Additional Financing for the Sudan COVID-19 Emergency Response Project

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The purpose of the proposed Additional Financing is to provide financing to help the Government of Sudan purchase and deploy COVID-19 vaccines that meet the World Bank’s Vaccine Approval Criteria. The activities under the AF will build on the activities under the parent project, the Sudan COVID-19 Emergency Response Project (P174352). The changes proposed for the AF entail expanding the scope of activities in the parent project and the procurement and deployment of vaccines. The proposed AF and restructuring will also provide an opportunity to address health system and case management gaps with broader potential health system benefits. As the activities to be funded under the proposed AF are aligned with the original PDO, the PDO would remain unchanged.The allocation of US$100.9 million was strategically determined by considering the need to support the overall deployment of vaccines as well as the government’s request to fund additional vaccines in order to reach a larger share of the population. To this end, approximately 80 percent of the AF grant is earmarked for the procurement of vaccines, related vaccine supplies (e.g. syringes and safety boxes), and vaccine deployment. Around 16 percent will be allocated for improved testing and surveillance along with related system strengthening (e.g. risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, waste management) in line with the parent project. The related health system strengthening interventions aim to address gaps identified in the COVID-19 assessment and underpin the effective delivery of vaccines, bolstering supply chain, vaccine safety, infection prevention and control (IPC), and waste management capacity.