[EQ] Financing Global Health 2010: Development assistance and country spending in economic uncertainty

Financing Global Health 2010:
Development assistance and country spending in economic uncertainty

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation - Seattle, WA: IHME, 2010.

Available online at: http://bit.ly/ewXYo0

November 30, 2010–“…..Financing Global Health 2010: Development assistance and country spending in economic uncertainty shows the continued rise in development assistance for health globally and provides a comprehensive picture of the total amount of health funding flowing from aid agencies, governments, and private donors to developing countries.

 

It also shows the dramatic increase in health spending by developing countries on their own health projects and the way development assistance for health appears to affect those domestic funding decisions….”

 

The report provides a comprehensive picture of the total amount of health funding between 1990 and 2008 from aid agencies and governments in 23 developed countries, multilateral institutions, and hundreds of nonprofit groups and charities.

 

The report’s findings include:

 

·          Country governments and private donors are driving the increases in development assistance for health. The US government and private donors in the US made up one-half of all funding in 2008.

·          US-based NGOs have been hit hard by the economic downturn, and the amount of health funding spent by them decreased 24% from 2009 to 2010.

·          Significant improvements in transparency make it easier to track how health funds are being used. In 1990, 65% of all public health funding from donor countries was considered “unspecified,” with no information available about the primary recipient of the funds. In 2008, that fraction had dropped to 1%. In the US, more than 30% of all funding was unspecified as recently as 2007. By 2008, though, the US government reported detailed information for 100% of its health assistance.

·          Spending on HIV/AIDS programs has continued to rise at a strong rate, making HIV/AIDS the most funded of all health focus areas. Funding for maternal, newborn, and child health received about half as much funding as HIV/AIDS as of 2008.

·          Malaria and tuberculosis are often included with AIDS as top priorities in combating infectious diseases, but both receive far less funding than AIDS: $1.19 billion for malaria in 2008 and $0.83 billion for tuberculosis. Funding for malaria and tuberculosis also appears to go to countries that do not have large groups at risk for these diseases. For example, of the 30 countries that receive the most malaria health funding adjusted for disease burden, only three – Eritrea, Sao Tome and Principe, and Swaziland – are located in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria is most acute.

·          Despite much discussion about the need for general health sector support, funding for that area has grown slowly since 2006. Funding for noncommunicable diseases, another popular topic among global health advocates, represents just 0.5% of all development assistance for health.

·         The commitment to health in the developing world grew dramatically over the past two decades. Governments of developing countries increased spending on health.

·         In countries whose governments receive significant donor funding, development assistance for health appears to be partially replacing domestic health spending instead of fully supplementing it. Conversely, in countries that receive health funding mainly through NGOs, government health spending appears to increase….”

 

Content:
Report Overview  

Chapter 1: Tracking development assistance for health  

Chapter 2: Distribution of development assistance for health  

Chapter 3: Spending on health by developing country governments  

Chapter 4: Impact on development assistance for health on country spending  

Conclusion and References  

Methods annex

Statistical annex

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