Sudan COVID-19 Emergency Response Project

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The proposed project aims to help Sudan respond to and mitigate the risks associated with the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. The project will: (i) strengthen COVID-19 case detection and confirmation and conduct contact tracing; (ii) improve clinical care capacity; (iii) raise public awareness and promote community engagement; and (iv) bolster coordination, planning, logistical support, and reporting. While the focus is on the coronavirus response and preparedness, the activities to be supported are expected to have cross-cutting benefits for addressing other disease outbreaks.Based on the Sudan Preparedness and Response Plan, the project will aim to fill critical gaps in implementing evidence-based interventions, such as: points of entry interventions; leadership and coordination; risk communication and community engagement; national laboratories; infection prevention and control; case management and gender-sensitive isolation; and operational support and logistics. These areas are identified to immediately strengthen the local capacity to respond and address the current COVID-19 challenges in timely manner, while working within the country’s existing systems and providing technical assistance as needed for local entities. Emphasis will be placed on strengthening capacities at both the federal and state levels through a balanced approach. This plan is designed to leverage the capacities of other key stakeholders to engage multiple actors and sectors active in Sudan.Component 1: Emergency COVID-19 Response (US$20.5 million). The aim of this component is to prevent and limit, to the extent possible, the spread of COVID-19 in Sudan. This will be achieved by providing immediate support to enhance case detection, testing, case management, recording and reporting, as well as bolster contact tracing and risk assessments. Specific areas to be supported include: (i) rapid detection and screening at critical Points of Entry (POEs); (ii) disease surveillance, emergency operating centers and rapid response teams to allow timely and adequate detection, tracing, and reporting of suspected cases; (iii) establishment and equipment of isolation and clinical management capacity at a select number of health facilities/hospitals across the country to respond to symptomatic cases; (iv) infection prevention and control at facility and community levels to ensure coordinated supply and demand side hygienic practices; (v) enhanced COVID-19 testing and diagnostic capacity at a targeted number of hospital-based laboratories across the country; (vi) nationwide risk communication and community engagement campaigns to raise awareness of COVID-19 and other pre-existing health priorities; (vii) leadership and coordination across different ministries, departments at the federal and state levels. Specifically, this component will finance the procurement of medical and non-medical supplies, medicines, and equipment as well as financing training, systems’ development, and implementation expenses and minor rehabilitation and upgrading/refurbishment of existing facilities to support the COVID-19 response.Component 2: Implementation Management and Monitoring and Evaluation (US$1.49 million)This component will support administration and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities to ensure smooth and satisfactory project implementation. The component will finance: (a) direct cost for staffing and establishment of the Project Management Unit (PMU) at the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH); and (b) hiring of a Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) agent and auditor, with terms of reference (TOR) satisfactory to the Bank; Component 3: Contingent Emergency Response (CERC) (US$0.0). A zero cost CERC component will provide support for future emergency responses. Following an eligible crisis or event, clients may request the Bank to re-allocate project funds to support an additional emergency response. This component would draw from the uncommitted credit resources under the project from other project components to cover emergency response. CERCs can be activated without needing to first restructure the original project, thus supporting rapid implementation. To facilitate a rapid response, formal restructuring is deferred to within three months after the CERC is activated. These components will be complemented by a World Bank executed Trust Fund which will cover the operational support as well as the analytical and technical assistance provided by the World Bank team throughout the duration of the project.