The World Bank has approved $286 million in financing for a program aimed at improving healthcare access and quality for over 90 million people in West Bengal. The initiative seeks to enhance life expectancy and quality of life by addressing both service gaps and systemic constraints in the state’s health system.
West Bengal has achieved significant health gains over the past two decades, including a decline in infant mortality from 32 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2010–2012 to 19 in 2018–2020, and a total fertility rate of 1.64 births per woman. Life expectancy now stands at 72 years, above the national average. Despite these improvements and high literacy rates among adolescent girls at 89%, the state records the second-highest rate of adolescent pregnancies in India at 16%, contributing to a maternal mortality ratio of 103 deaths per 100,000 live births. Districts such as Purulia, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Maldah, and Uttar Dinajpur face persistent challenges in reproductive, maternal, and adolescent healthcare.
The West Bengal Health System Reform Program will support the delivery of patient-centric healthcare services, particularly for people over 30, through digital tracking of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. The program will strengthen health outcomes measurement, improve gender-based violence services, and enhance the resilience of healthcare facilities to extreme weather events. In the five targeted districts, it aims to reduce inequities in maternal and adolescent health while improving overall access to quality care.
Program leaders emphasize that strengthening primary-level care, including monitoring and managing hypertension and diabetes, is key to controlling the rising burden of non-communicable diseases. The initiative’s focus on quality-of-care interventions and gender-based violence response mechanisms is expected to build trust in the healthcare system and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations.
The $286 million loan, provided by the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a final maturity of 16.5 years, including a three-year grace period, and links financing to verified outcomes to ensure accountability and measurable results.
