Libya - Emergency Infection Prevention and Control to Support Vulnerable Population Amidst COVID-19 Outbreak

The proposed emergency assistance project will contribute to supporting the Libya’s national Response Plan for COVID-19. The COVID-19 situation in Libya is highly challenging against the complex political and socio-economic context. Following years of neglect and under-funding, the Libyan health sector has become extremely fragile and today, in face of the COVID-19 pandemic, is on the verge of collapse. While the reported number of infections is still manageable -at 168 confirmed cases and five deaths as of June 2, 2020 - the numbers are expected to surge exponentially, partly affected by the continued movement across border with neighboring countries where reported cases are already high and are rapidly increasing. This operation, which involves Bank’s grant of USD 480,000, will address priority strategic needs and help fill the funding gap for Libya's COVID-19 response plan. The assistance is intended to focus on infection prevention and control and to shield communities, particularly those most vulnerable including the health workers. The project components are: (i) Provision of personal protective equipment (PPE): (USD 446.4,000) consisting of 8000 complete sets of PPE of 10 items each, including transportation and logistics; (ii) Project Management (USD 33,600): Administration fees of 7% of the grant, to the WHO, designated as the implementing agency.