The Multi Donor Trust Fund-South (MDTF-S) and the Government of South Sudan are co-financing a health sector development programme, with total funding of US$225 million over three years, which started in 2005. In addition to regular assessments conducted by the World Bank, DFID commissioned a review on behalf of MDTF donors of both of Sudan’s multi-donor trust funds. This review, completed in December 2007, found that the performance of the MDTF-S funded Southern Sudan Umbrella Health Project had improved, after a slow start.
The review, and the World Bank assessments, show that the specific impact on health service provision includes:
strengthened pharmaceutical supply systems including the procurement of US$20 million of medicines, one million insecticide-treated bed nets and the rehabilitation of storage facilities;
training courses held for key health workers;
US$1 million allocated to each state for the rehabilitation of health infrastructure; and
strengthened institutional capacity of the public health administration including the establishment of a functioning Executive Board in the Ministry of Health (MOH).
The MDTF-S is also being used to fund Liverpool Associates in Tropical Health to assist the Ministry of Health with its overall capacity-building, including by training its staff on daily operations and organising its personnel structure.