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Monterrey - The experience of bringing essential health interventions to the poorest and most vulnerable people offers lessons for how development assistance in other areas can be improved, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

WHO outlined key success factors for making aid for health work well. They include:

* Setting clear, quantifiable and time-based goals agreed by donors and recipient countries, such as halving malaria by 2010 or curing 85% of detected tuberculosis cases by 2005,

* Making reliable estimates for what it will cost to achieve these goals,

* Finding new and creative ways to mobilize additional funding and channelling them to where they are most needed, like for instance, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; and

* Linking funding to performance.

This approach can be adopted in other areas such as education, nutrition and environmental management to achieve relevant Millennium Development Goals.

"Our success stories show excellent value for money. Donors need to see their contributions produce tangible results, "said Dr. Brundtland.

Speaking at the International Conference on Financing for Development about the pioneering study of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH), Dr. Brundtland explained that it is the first comprehensive report since the Millennium Summit that shows how to accomplish some of the Millennium Development Goals: decreasing poverty by half, reducing mortality of children under five years by two-thirds, reducing maternal mortality by three-fourths, containing the spread of HIV/AIDS and lowering the frequency of malaria and other communicable diseases by 2015.

The cost and pay-off of providing essential health care

The Commission's report is also the first detailed costing of the resources needed to reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The health conditions that cause much of the ill health in disadvantaged populations, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria require on an annual basis at least US $30-40 per capita in the developing countries. Current spending on all aspects of health care is only about US $13 per person per year in the least developed countries.

In the report, developing countries are urged to devote, on average, an additional 1% of Gross National Product to health over the next five years. There is strong will and determination amongst several developing country leaders to improve the health of their people. But even with this increase in health spending, the international donor community needs to make up the funding shortfall.

"WHO can make the case for more money because we know how to spend it well", Dr. Brundtland told delegates at the conference.

Dr. Brundtland stressed how investment in health is essential for development."Investing in health will produce enormous benefits and allow millions of people to be lifted out of poverty", she said. Eight million deaths per year can be prevented in developing countries by 2015. The economic benefits are estimated to be about US $360 billion annually by 2015-2020.

The main diseases to target

Three diseases - HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria - make up a dominant part of the global burden of disease and cause more than 5.5 million deaths every year. Maternal and child conditions, reproductive ill health, injuries and the health consequences of tobacco, are also global health priorities.

Any attempt to stimulate global economic and social development, and thus to promote human security, must be successful in addressing the burdens caused by these diseases and conditions.

WHO is now bringing together ministries of health and finance, in a way never done before, to plan health investments for the future, as part of the follow-up to the Commission's report.

"Health needs to be brought to the attentin of economic decision-makers. Better health for the poor is not just about improving people's lives, it's the foundation for building a strong economy", stressed Dr. Brundtland.

(WHO press release) 

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