UN Needs To Commit To More Aid For Health Better Spent, Not More New Initiatives To Disburse Same Money

Main Category: Aid / Disasters
Article Date: 27 Sep 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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At the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit taking place in New York today Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the UK, will announce the launch of a new High-Level Task Force on Innovative Financing for Health Systems. This announcement comes almost a year to the day since the International Health Partnership and Related Initiatives (IHP+) - an initiative aimed at improving the effective delivery of health aid in an over-crowded market place for donors - was launched.

Action for Global Health, a network of 15 European NGOs advocating for the achievement of the health Millennium Development Goals, views the establishment of this new High Level Task Force on Innovative Financing for Health as an important opportunity for donors and political leaders to pledge their support for increasing their support for health in the poorest countries.

Whilst cautiously welcoming the opportunity this new Task Force presents for finding solutions to the significant gaps in health aid in the IHP+ focus countries Action for Global Health is concerned, that too much effort is being placed on looking for new solutions rather than pursuing in full the range of commitments and pledges that have already been made. We are particularly concerned that this new Task Force will result in the establishment of yet another new health initiative or health financing mechanism that fails to build on what already exists - an action that would have the opposite effect to the stated aims of the IHP+.

In its 'Healthy Aid' report, published in June this year, Action for Global Health highlighted the urgent need to address the 'new initiative-itis' that is so common in the current donor environment for health. It is essential therefore for this new Task Force to ensure it does not create another new funding mechanism, but instead builds on what is already there.

Action for Global Health is also concerned that this High Level Task Force on Innovative Financing for Health, rather than generating new aid for health, will simply result in a re-programming of current aid allocations. Additional financing for health in developing countries is clearly urgently needed. However, donors should first focus on delivering the volumes of aid they have already promised and should give health the priority it deserves in aid policies rather than experimenting further with new financing initiatives.

In the last week we have witnessed the ability of donor governments to rapidly mobilise resources to rescue their banking sectors - the scale of funding required to ensure the health MDGs can be met is minimal compared to the £377billion mobilised in just one week to bail out struggling banks.

Rather than launching a new initiative, donors should commit to use Health as a tracer sector in the preparation of Doha conference on financing for development. This will be more effective as it will position the Health sector at the forefront for new funding initiatives and embodies all key challenges of making aid more effective in terms of quantity and quality.

1. Action for Global Health was formed in 2007 by 15 non-governmental organisations and charities. Current partners are based in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the UK and Brussels working on different aspects of health and with the overall aim to form a powerful collective voice, to call on European governments, NGOs, institutions and businesses to do much more to support the right to health. We want action to support health systems in developing countries, as well as removing obstacles that stop poor countries acting to benefit their citizens. We want European governments to keep their promises.

2. To read the Action for Global Health survey in full please go to our website - www.actionforglobalhealth.eu.

3. For a copy of the recent Action for Global Health report - Healthy Aid - go to: www.actionforglobalhealth.eu/publications/healthyaid