OREANDA-NEWS. July 22, 2016. Uruguay will build the pillars of its new National Integrated Care System and enhance its early childhood care with a \\$50 million loan approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This is an unprecedented operation for the Bank, which is making its first loan to a national care system.

The program’s overall goal is to help improve both service access and quality for people in a position of dependence within the framework of the National Integrated Care System, while supporting institutional strengthening and enhancing quality early childhood care systems.

“This program will support efforts to develop Uruguay’s management tools and new models to assist those in a position of dependence,” IDB project team leader Rita Sorio said. “It will also strengthen institutional capabilities to ensure that sufficient quality services will be provided over the medium and long term.”

This is the second operation carried out under the Credit Line for Investment Projects approved in October 2008 to finance the National Infancy and Adolescence Strategy’s Support Program.

Its components include supporting Uruguay’s National Integrated Care System and enhancing the availability of quality early childhood care through the creation of new Childhood and Family Care Facilities (CAIF, after its Spanish initials).

Among other moves aimed at strengthening the system, the program will help develop the Care Portal, the National Care Registry, an Information Management Platform to assist with the decision-making process, and a regulatory framework that will include authorization rules as well as care service supervision and audits.

It will also support the design, validation and implementation of tools to improve early childhood care quality monitoring at infant care centers, and the development of a Training Program for Childhood Care Centers’ personnel with a gender-based approach.

Additionally, the program will finance Uruguay’s Children and Adolescents Institute’s (INAU) expansion plans for its quality services for children under three years of age, and construction of 50 new CAIF centers with room for 5,400 children that will operate under innovative care modalities following new quality standards.

The \\$50 million IDB loan is for a 25-year term, with a 5.5-year grace period, at a LIBOR-based interest rate. Uruguay will provide \\$15 million in counterpart funding.

About us

The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source oflong-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.