Snapshot review of Two World Bank COVID-19 Health support programs in Egypt Findings A. Access to Information As of June 27, 2018, the “Transforming Egypt’s Healthcare Project” was approved by the World Bank with a loan amounting to 530M USD, due for a closing date in 2023. The project’s stated objectives were outlined by the World Bank as follows3: “ (i) improve the quality of primary and secondary health care services, (ii) enhance demand for health and family planning services, and (iii) support the prevention and control of Hepatitis C.” According to the documents available on the World Bank website, the project’s finances were mainly used to combat the ongoing spread of Hepatitis C with a national campaign screening 50 million people and treating 1,073,586 people.4 The project held a “contingent emergency response component” (CERC), aimed at providing emergency funding to public health crises, should the need arise. Less than two years later, on April 2nd, 2020, the World Bank published a press release announcing the activation of the CERC with an amount of 7.9M USD. Following the press release, there has been no information available online provided by the World Bank or any other institution regarding the utilization of this loan in Egypt's COVID-19 response. Since the date of announcement in April 2020, 2 Implementation Status and Results report were published on the “Supporting Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance System” program5 and a Project Appraisal Document, however, none of the documents include any information about the usage of the Contingent Emergency Response Component. In accordance with the World Bank’s access to information policy, information was requested about further details of the activation of the CERC, however it was not provided. 2 months following the meeting with the World Bank representatives on June 30th 2021, no additional documents or further information were provided about the CERC. On May 14, 2020, the “Egypt COVID-19 Emergency Response'' loan was approved with a closing date in June 2022. The loan went through all stages of approval in Egypt, receiving parliamentary 3 World Bank, Egypt: World Bank Provides US$7.9 Million in Support of Coronavirus Emergency Response 4 World Bank, Supporting Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance System, Project Documents page, last viewed on August 27th 2021, https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/documentdetail/P172426?type=projects 5 As above 7