Egypt Approves $400 million World Bank Facility for Universal Health Insurance

Egypt is going forward with procedures for a $400 million loan from the World Bank to help fund the nation’s Universal Health Insurance programme, after the Bank agreed to increase the loan from $250 million, according to Wednesday’s statement from the Cabinet.

The fund is coming to support Egypt’s gradual rollout of its universal healthcare scheme, which aims to provide all citizens residing within Egypt with basic healthcare insurance by 2032. The loan will serve to subsidise membership fees for vulnerable populations, fund infrastructure projects in governorates where the scheme is to be rolled out, as well as institutional capacity building to help support the ambitious scheme.