DfID - International Health Partnership launched
5 September 2007
Department for International Development (DFID) Press Release
PRIME MINISTER LAUNCHES NEW INTERNATIONAL HEALTH PARTNERSHIP
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, Ministers from developing countries and donor countries, and leaders from all of the major health agencies and foundations, are today launching a new international partnership that will help save millions of lives by helping build national health systems in some of the poorest countries in the world. Seven 'first wave' countries in Africa and Asia will join the new International Health Partnership which is supported by donor governments and agencies. The partnership will launched formally at an event at 10 Downing Street London, on Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking today, the Prime Minister said:"There is no greater cause than that every man, woman and child in the world should be able to able to benefit from the best medicine and healthcare. And our vision today is that we can triumph over ancient scourges and for the first time in history conquer polio, TB, measles and then with further advances and initiatives, go on to address pneumoccal pneumonia, malaria and eventually HIV/ AIDS. "Today we come together - donor governments, health agencies and developing countries - with the certainty that we have the knowledge and the power to save millions of lives through our efforts."
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development, said:"Global aid for health has doubled since 2000 and much has been achieved to fight disease and save lives. But to meet the MDGs, aid is only a part of the solution. "The donor community needs to work together better and smarter in order to deliver for the very countries we're trying to help, whilst supporting poor countries' own priorities. This is not about launching a health initiative but is about building health services."
The International Health Partnership (IHP) is part of a renewed global push to meet the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) - cutting child deaths, improving maternal mortality and fighting major diseases. It aims to make health aid work better for poor countries by doing three things:
focusing on improving health systems as a whole and, not just on individual diseases or issues;
providing better coordination among donors;
and developing and supporting countries' own health plans.
The challenges facing developing countries' health systems are numerous and vary from access to medicines to the availability of clinics; and the availability of trained health workers to predictable health budgets. For example:
health spending per person in some sub-Saharan African countries is as low as £5 - the World Health Organisation recommends £17 and the UK average is £1,400;
there is only one health worker per 1,000 people in some countries - the WHO recommends a minimum of 2.5 per 1000 and the European average is one per 100.
over half of the population in the world's poorest countries in Africa and Asia lack access to essential medicines.
The global donor community is making a positive difference in its support of poor countries - the use of Zambia's health services has increased by 40% since being made cost-free in rural areas; the number of front-line health workers has doubled in Ethiopia from 6000 to 12,000 in two years; and in Burundi, the number of children receiving health care has nearly doubled since becoming free for under-fives last year.
See www.dfid.gov.uk/mdg/health-facts-figures.asp for more health facts.
The International Health Partnership aims to address three of the major issues that can influence the effectiveness of aid to poor countries:
- firstly, global health assistance is over-complex, with multiple health partnerships and international organisations - there are over 40 bilateral donors and 90 global health initiatives;
- secondly, not enough focus has been put upon building strong sustainable health systems in poor countries. Impressive results have been achieved in combating HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria (MDG 6) but other health issues, such as the health of children and women (MDGs 4 and 5) and support for building stronger health systems - such as training doctors and nurses, building clinics or providing basic health services - receive less attention. In Zambia, only about 10% of all donor support for health goes directly to government for the support of comprehensive health systems - the remaining 90% goes to support disease-specific programmes.
- thirdly, poor countries sometimes find it costly and time consuming to deal with so many partners - in Cambodia there are 22 different donors providing support for health through 109 separate projects. 2007 marks the mid-point of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - promises made by the world's richest countries to make poverty history by 2015. Gordon Brown set out the global challenge in a speech to the United Nations in New York on 31 July 2007.
Today, the World Health Organisation, World Bank, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, the GAVI Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, plus the European Commission, the African Development Bank, donor governments including Norway - represented by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and others are committing to work better together, especially on the ground, and better support the health needs identified by poor countries themselves.
Donor partners are also agreeing to work towards providing longer-term and more predictable funding to poor countries. This will mean poor countries are better able to make long-term plans, knowing that they will have the money to pay health workers' salaries, maintain and build clinics and hospitals, and train new doctors and nurses. Better co-ordination brings proven results.
For example in Ethiopia, an ambitious national programme to provide universal primary healthcare has been backed by a number of donors. Over 17,000 new salaried female Health Extension Workers, based in health posts close to their communities, are now providing preventive services and basic healthcare.
Ministers of Health from each of the seven 'first wave' countries - from Africa: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique,Zambia and from Asia: Cambodia and Nepal - are attending the launch. They have agreed that they would benefit from closer donor and international partner coordination as they work to improve their health services. They have committed to increase public funding for healthcare and to ensure that the poorest people have access to healthcare.
To support the effective implementation of the International Health Partnership in the first wave partner countries, the UK will ensure that the resources are available to provide technical support to Ministries of Health and support stopgap solutions such as tackling the health worker shortage and the supply of medicines. A Compact is being signed by all partners of the International Health Partnership at the launch today. The next step will be for individual country agreements to be negotiated for the first wave partner countries.
Her Majesty, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan; representatives of major NGOs; and Trade Unions all back the new partnership and have offered words of support.
Notes for Editors
1. For more details on the Partnership, supporting documents, materials and to read what our partners and supporters have said, see the DFID website www.dfid.gov.uk.
2. Copies of the Compact will be available after the event on the DFID website.
