MANILA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending 49 million U.S. dollars worth of loans and grants to expand surveillance response systems to help control dengue outbreaks, and prevent the spread of communicable and tropical diseases in the Mekong region, according to a statement issued on Tuesday.
The financing package will be coursed through the Second Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Regional Communicable Diseases Control Project and aims to improve health services in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This will then prevent the spread of infectious diseases including dengue, swine flu and AIDS in the region.
"Preventing these diseases requires better local participation and much more intensive regional cooperation," Vincent de Wit, ADB 's lead health professional, said in the statement.
The Manila-based lender will finance community-based communicable disease control systems and is expected to benefit 1. 7 million people living in 116 border districts in the three countries. About one-third of the population in the target areas belong to ethnic minority groups.
ADB will lend 27 million U.S. million dollars to Vietnam and extend grants of 10 million U.S. dollars for Cambodia and 12 million U.S. dollars for Laos. The three countries will provide counterpart support totaling 5 million U.S. dollars equivalent.
The Ministry of Health in each country will be the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion in June 2016. The regional coordination unit will be based in Vientiane.
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