In response to its first call for proposals, the International Health Partnership and related initiatives (IHP+) Civil Society Health Policy Action Fund received over 100 applications. The aim of the Fund is to support southern civil society organizations, networks and coalitions to become more effectively engaged in national health policy processes.

A total of 13 proposals were recommended by the Project Technical Committee (PTC) for funding. For more detail, please see the PTC meeting report.

Related link:

Civil Society Health Policy Action Fund web site

18 May 2010, Geneva -- Representatives from many International Health Partnership (IHP+) signatories attended an IHP+ partners technical meeting during the World Health Assembly to review progress on improving mutual accountability.

Dr Victor Makwenge Kaput, Minister of Health, Democratic Republic of Congo and meeting co-chair Dr Stephen Karengera, Director of Planning and Policy, Rwanda reported on the approaches used in their own countries, and some of the results. For example, Minister Makwenge Kaput pointed to reduced transaction costs after 2010, and highlighted the continued shift in recent years of donor funding allocation to health districts. The independent consortium IHP+ Results provided additional perspectives from their first round of monitoring progress against IHP+ Compact commitments. This was followed by wide-ranging discussion and comments from developing country, bilateral donor and international agency partners.

Country and agency representatives from the following were among the more than 60 people attending: Australia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, European Commission, GAVI, Global Fund, Kenya, International Labour Organization, Italy, Mali, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, Togo, Uganda, UNAIDS, UNICEF, United Kingdom, WHO and World Bank.

The IHP+Results Update May 2010 / Le point sur l’Assemblée de la santé mondiale en 2010 independent report (and Annex 1 / Annexe 1 version française) was launched the same day.

Technical meeting presentations:

Democratic Republic of Congo

IHP+Results

 

17 May 2010, Geneva -- In a side event to the opening day of the 63rd World Health Assembly, the International Health Partnership (IHP+) welcomed 10 new members: Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain, Togo and, Viet Nam.

Ministers of Health from the joining member countries signed the Global Compact in the presence of Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization, Mr Rakesh Nangia, Director Strategy and Operations, Human Development, the World Bank, and many other existing IHP+ signatories.
 

IHP+ was created to accelerate progress towards the health Millennium Development Goals, with a focus on improving coordination between country governments and development partners to improve health services and health outcomes. The Global Compact represents the formal commitment to put the Paris principles on aid effectiveness – national ownership, alignment with national systems, harmonization between agencies, management for results, and mutual accountability – into practice in the health sector.
 

In her opening remarks, Doctor Chan stressed the importance of greater mutual accountability and transparency. She praised the commitment of developing countries and development agencies to improving health through the IHP+ agenda, and she reminded them of their responsibilities. She noted that in developing countries, domestic funds still make up the larger portion of health budgets, and stressed the need for efficient use of all funds - domestic and development assistance. She encouraged developing countries to challenge all development agencies and donors to participate in improving health through support of one national health plan, a stronger health information system, and a single monitoring and evaluation framework. 

IHP+ Global Compact (FR)
 

Brussels, March 31.2010 - The European Commission adopted a communication on the role of the European Union in Global Health. The document will lead to EU Council conclusions during its session on May 10-11. The document provides an explicit emphasis and concrete targets on aid effectiveness in the health sector and the reference to the IHP+ principles and process. Read the Communication Document
 

March 2010, Geneva – The WHO Country Planning Cycle Database presents a country-by-country overview of national planning, health programmatic and project cycles together with information on donor involvement and technical support. The aim is to improve coordination and synchronization of country health system planning efforts. The database is developed and maintained by WHO in collaboration with partners. Please contact Casey Downey (downeyc@who.int) with any queries, comments or amendments.

SEE COUNTRY PLANNING CYCLE DATABASE
 

On January 20, 2010, the World Bank’s Africa Region reaffirmed its commitment to achieving better health results and innovation by helping its client countries to strengthen their health systems. With many countries off-track to achieve their health-related Millennium Development Goals, stronger national health systems are considered vital to reach their 2015 health targets. The World Bank's Vice President for Africa, Obiageli Ezekwesili (Oby) reminded her regional staff of the challenges in realizing this vision of vastly better health on the continent while reflecting on some of the early achievements of the Africa Region Health Systems for Outcomes (HSO) Program, as well as launching a new web-based innovation for knowledge sharing and capacity building in health systems .

With many countries experiencing problems in reaching their MDGs, the region's focus has turned to building up the quality and reach of country health systems which for the most part remain weak and unable to deliver health services to people who need them most. As a response to this issue, the HSO program, which is anchored in the Africa Region Technical Health (AFTHE) Unit of the Bank’s Africa Region Human Development Department (AFTHD) was launched a year ago to assist Sub-Saharan countries accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In line with the 2007 Health Nutrition and Population Strategy, the HSO Program focuses on five pillars of support where the Bank has a strong comparative advantage: Health Financing; Governance and Service Delivery; Human Resources for Health; Pharmaceuticals; and Infrastructure and ICT .

Since the inception of the HSO Program, two regional hubs--one in Dakar, Senegal, one in Nairobi, Kenya--have been established and staffed with high-level, experienced health systems specialists who, on demand, provide urgent technical and analytical assistance to governments in SSA. In line with the Paris Declaration, this assistance is provided in close collaboration with development partners through the Harmonization for Health in Africa Initiative (HHA) and the International Partnership+ (IHP+) Program.

While many countries in the Africa Region are still far from being on track to achieve the health-related MDGs, others have achieved impressive results through reforms and health systems strengthening initiatives supported by the Bank. Ethiopia, for example, has trained more than 30,000 community health workers, who have contributed to improved maternal and child health outcomes. Rwanda, through decentralization, expansion of health insurance and results-based financing, has reduced both infant and under-5 child mortality by 33% in just two years and increased health insurance coverage from 7% to 85% over five years. In addition, the Bank and its partners, though the HHA and IHP+ initiatives, have been assisting 14 governments in the Africa Region in preparing and, in some cases, implementing National Compacts that aim to establish (for each country) a single national health strategy, a unified budget, and a common monitoring and evaluation framework that all the development partners agree to support.

A brand new interactive Website, launched during the January 20 meeting, serves as an interactive tool and transparent window into the HSO Program. The Website, structured around the five pillars of support, includes information on the HSO team, a listing of the latest news and events on health systems strengthening (HSS), a blog, a knowledge library, a description of the type of HSO support provided to each country, and key HSS indicators by pillar and country. An innovative feature of the website is a virtual space where members of a community of practice can communicate and organize themselves, and learn from one another as they work in harmony with governments and colleagues from the development community to coordinate and carry out development efforts related to health systems strengthening.

The HSO website can be accessed at www.worldbank.org/hso and is a joint product of the World Bank and the Harmonization for Health in Africa (HHA) initiative http://hso.worldbank.org/hso/hha .
 

Signatories of IHP+ are committed to tackle challenges facing country health systems. Health workforce shortages are recognised as a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa. In four IHP+ countries, leaders are taking forward a major effort to increase the numbers of health workers. Ministries of Health and country partners were involved in structured reviews of human resources for health in each country with commitments to supporting the agreed action agenda and 6 measures of success. DFID and PEPFAR have pledged major financial support and are revising country actions in line with the action agenda. Read more

The Task Team on Health as a Tracer Sector (TT HATS) of the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness (WP EFF), the international partnership of donors and partner countries hosted by the OECD/DAC, has issued an interim report 'Aid for better health - what are we learning about what works and what we still have to do?' READ THE REPORT IN FULL

10 November 2009, Addis Ababa – The Ethiopian Health Minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, representing the Federal Government of Ethiopia, Ms. Colleen Wainwright, Head of Development at the Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Ambassador Jean Christopher Belliard on behalf of the French government signed the International Health Partnership (IHP) Compact to harmonise their efforts and boost aid effectiveness in order to enable Ethiopia meet the Millennium Development Goals. The signing ceremony that took place at the Addis Ababa Sheraton Hotel – in conjunction with the 20th Global Fund Board Meeting 09-11 November 2009.

France and Ireland joined the African Development Bank, DFID, European Commission, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and World Bank, who signed the IHP document on 26 August 2008.

The IHP Compact, based on Ethiopia’s own strategy, known as the Health Sector Development Programme (HSDP), to improve health care services, would be closely monitored by both the government and its global development partners to ensure its effectiveness. Back in August 2008 both the government’s and its development partners agreed to adhere to the ‘one plan, one budget, one report’ mechanism underpinning the HSDP harmonisation and alignment manner - deemed to reduce financial gaps and ensure coordination.

Speaking on the occasion Ms. Wainwright said Ireland was a keen supporter of aid effectiveness and ready to assist Ethiopia’s encouraging results in the health sector.

Similarly, H.E. Ambassador Belliard expressed Ethiopia’s efforts as worth supporting. “We have witnessed effective progress due to strong government commitment and strong partnership. The French government is therefore pleased to be part of this remarkable effort”, added the Ambassador.

H.E. Dr. Tedros thanked Ireland for being part of the Joint Financial Agreement (signed on 16 April 2009) and both countries for joining the IHP Compact, which strives to place disease prevention and health promotion as the primary weapon as well as channel funding to crucial needs of the country. In his final words, the Minister urged, “... I would encourage more countries to join the IHP. I would also appeal to the global aid community to continue to foster greater harmonisation and to mobilise the financing needed to achieve the health MDGs”.

Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, Country Representative, World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Nejmudin Kedir, Director General of the Policy, Planning and Finance General Directorate – FMoH and other dignitaries attended the signing ceremony.
 

NEW YORK, 29 September - Improving maternal health and reducing newborn deaths is a complex undertaking because, among other things, it involves strengthening health systems, scaling up programmes to reach remote rural areas and marginalized populations, and ensuring that appropriate resources are committed to what some consider a ‘woman’s issue.’

It’s a task that takes a lot of effort and expertise, which is why WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank, have committed themselves to working closely together in order to accelerate progress in saving the lives of women and newborns as called for by the Millennium Development Goals.
In a meeting Friday 25 September, the four partners, nicknamed the‘The Health 4’ or ‘H4’, presented the scope of work and the progress of their country-focused collaboration at a very well attended meeting in UNFPA’s New York Headquarter.

During the coming years, the four agencies will enhance their support to the countries with the highest maternal mortality, starting with six, scaling up to 25 and later covering 60 countries, they said at the meeting, which included donor partners, representatives from civil society organization and academic institutions.

Focus will be on helping countries to strengthen their health systems so that they can reduce the maternal mortality ratio by 75 per cent and achieve universal access to reproductive health, as called for by the MDG 5. The joint efforts will also contribute to reducing child mortality as called for by MDG 4.

Read the joint statement from the four agencies
 

FEZ, 6 October 2009- By signing the IHP+ Global Compact, Djibouti became today the 37th member of the International Health Partnership and related initiatives. "The political vision of the government of Djibouti is perfectly aligned with the international objectives and is materialized within the National Social Development Initiative launched by the President of the Republic and Head of the Government in January 2007 in the past decade. By joining the IHP+ we will have a clear framework to work together with our Partners" said Mr. Abdallah, Abdillahi Miguil, Minister of Health of Djibouti during the signing ceremony that took place at the WHO Eastern Meditarranean Regional Committee Meeting in Morocco
 

September 30, 2009 - In the new IHP+ Update you can read on new IHP+ members, the Joint Assessment roll-out, the High Level Taskforce event at the UNGA, update on Health Systems Funding Platform, and update on IHP+ Results. Read the Update
 

READ RELATED NEWS ARTICLES

Leaders commit new finance to tackle women’s and children’s health in the developing world

NEW YORK, 23 September 2009: An innovative health financing taskforce set up by world leaders twelve months ago is today announcing a series of new financing measures worth US$5.3 billion to save millions of women and children in developing countries, whose lives are under increased threat during the global economic crisis.

10 million more women and children will get access to free health care following today’s announcements.

The innovative financing proposals will build on progress that has been made over the past ten years to improve the quality of health for millions of the world’s poorest people, but now faces the threat of being reversed as a result of the global downturn.

The meeting, co-chaired by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick, marks the culmination of a year’s work by the Taskforce on Innovative Financing for Health Systems, launched by Brown and Zoellick last year, and the agreement reached this year to a Global Consensus on Maternal, Newborn and Child health. The meeting will highlight the need for stronger, better financed health systems, and better access to health services for women and children.

Government and business leaders are expected to announce support for a number of recommendations:

• A US$1 billion expansion of the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm)

• A new mechanism for making voluntary contributions when buying airline tickets, expected to raise up to US$3.2 billion by 2015

• US$515 million for results-based funding programmes for health

• US$360 million worth of debt conversions – Global Fund's Debt2Health Initiative

• Launch of a VAT tax credit pilot scheme called De-Tax, expected to raise up to US$220 million a year in VAT resources

• The commitment to explore a second Advance Market Commitment for life-saving vaccines

• New commitments by leaders of Nepal, Malawi, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, to expand access to health services. This is expected to result in 10 million more people having access to free health services. Donors will announce new financing to support these commitments.

Gordon Brown told international leaders that there were two roadblocks to progress on maternal and child health: a lack of resources, and the presence of user fees. Speaking at the meeting of 700 global delegates, entitled Healthy Women, Healthy Children: Investing in our common future, UK PM Gordon Brown said:

“We cannot let mothers and children die through lack of finance and through the persistence of user fees. The US$5.3 billion raised by the Taskforce, and the leadership of the countries mean that today is an historic step towards the goal of universal health care in Asia and Africa”.

World Bank President, Robert Zoellick underlined the importance of creating new income streams to improve health care for mothers and children saying that the launch of new financing initiatives to help generate the income and the systems will ultimately stem the unnecessary and preventable deaths of women and children around the world.

Stressing the need for a list of new funding measures from which countries could choose their preferred options, President Zoellick said:

“Innovation can be the key to making significant progress on reaching the MDGs, strengthening health systems, and improving millions of lives – especially the lives of women and children. A good example is our partnership with the GAVI Alliance, the Global Fund, and the WHO to develop a platform to coordinate and channel aid to health systems – including funds from some of the innovative financing mechanisms identified today”.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, initiator of the World Bank’s Health Results Innovation Trust Fund, emphasized the need to focus on results by helping countries achieve national health plan goals, especially child malnutrition and child and maternal mortality by giving money based upon results.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway said: “The results focus will ensure that women and children will be at the centre of attention in the new effort”.

Joint host of the meeting at the UN the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), today supported the Taskforce’s recommendations, and Flavia Bustreo the Director said:

“While significant progress has been made, a child still dies every three seconds, and a woman dies every minute from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. Urgent action is needed if we are to achieve the promise of the Millennium Development Goals. Greater and new sources of funding are vital, and the Taskforce recommendations go some way to mobilising those finances. It is also crucial that governments in both developed and developing countries fulfil all of their prior funding commitments. The Partnership is committed to accelerating progress and halting these millions of preventable deaths, and we will continue to hold leaders accountable for their commitments.”

Detail of Announcements

• $1bn for a cash injection into health systems through the International Financial Facility for Immunisations (with £250m from UK, £150m from Norway and £130m from Australia).

• Six CEOs from the tourism and travel industry launch a scheme to raise over $3bn by 2015 through voluntary contributions with online travel bookings.

• £250m for a new fund to reward high-performing health programmes with contributions from UK and Norway.

• Launch of a VAT credit pilot scheme in Italy to generate up to €200m in 2010.

• Commitment by GAVI, the Global Fund, the World Bank and WHO to rationalise funding for health systems through a single funding stream to be in place in 7 countries in 2010.

• US$360 million worth of debt conversions – Global Fund's Debt2Health Initiative.

• The commitment to explore a second Advance Market Commitment for life-saving vaccines.

• New commitments from leaders of Nepal, Malawi, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, to expand access to health services. This is expected to result in 10 million more people having access to free health services. Donors will announce new financing to support these commitments.
Country commitments to health as follows:

• Nepal – doubling access to free and safe deliveries for (over a million) more pregnant women

• Burundi – providing (as opposed to promising) free health care to all children under 5 and pregnant women (1.4 million children and 200,000 pregnant women)

• Malawi – extending free health services through government and church-run hospitals to reach 860,000 more people, including 80,000 more free births

• Sierra Leone – launching a new health plan to bring in free health care for women and children

• Ghana – bringing free health care within reach for millions more by abolishing annual premiums and shifting to a single, one-off lifetime payment, with exemptions for pregnant women, children up to eighteen and the elderly

• Liberia – committing to make the suspension of user fees permanent and providing free health care for all, with the help of adequate donor finance Read the Press Release in Full 

The Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems was charged with driving forward the UN MDGs on health to help end global poverty by 2015, is co-chaired by UK PM Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick. They are joined on the Taskforce by world leaders from Australia, Ethiopia France, Germany, Italy, Liberia, Mozambique, Norway as well as the World Health Organisation and the UN.

Two independent Working Groups were established to advise the Taskforce on the constraints and costs of the funding gap and the mechanisms for raising and channelling the funds.

Working Group I co-chairs - Julio Frenk (Dean, Harvard School of Public Health) and Anne Mills ( Head, Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Working Group II chair - Anders Nordstrom (Director General, Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency)

The final reports of the two working groups are published here in full.

The sustained degradation and subjugation of girls and women remains the world's most pervasive human rights violation. Today, well over 100 million are 'missing' because of increased mortality from inequality and neglect and the majority of the 2.4 million victims of human trafficking, which treats people as products, are female. continue

June 30, 2009 - In the new IHP+ Update you can read on the Second annual IHP+ Country Teams Meeting, the Final Report of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative Financing, Niger joining the IHP+, Update on IHP+ Results and on the New IHP+ Website. Read the Update

June 22, 2009 - The Working Group 2 of the Taskforce on International Innovative Financing for Health Systems completed its report by releasing the Technical Annex 'Review of Shortlist of Innovative Financing Mechanisms' Read the Report
 

The Second IHP+ Country Health Sector Teams' Meeting took place on June 15 - 16 in Bamako, Mali. Meeting objectives were to review progress and share experience since the first meeting in Lusaka. and to get feedback from partner countries in four key areas: the development and added value of country compacts, joint assessment of national strategies; ways to track results and reduce the transaction costs of reporting, and the financing of national strategies. In the debate on joint assessment the need to support existing country processes was stressed. The discussion on financing was set in the context of the global economic environment and the work by the Taskforce for Innovative Financing for Health Systems was discussed with cautious optimism . The session concluded that urgent evidence of progress in terms of improved results is needed in order to make the case for additional funding for health. In the final session, country teams identified priorities for their own action over the coming year and priorities on which they would like to see action by the global development community. The Harmonizing for Health in Africa initiative (HHA) continued the meeting for 2 more days to discuss the way forward to improve coordination and quality of technical support to countries related to their national health strategies.
 

Bamako Meeting Report

Bamako Meeting Documents 

More on MoH Mali website
 

The report of the Taskforce on International Innovative Financing for Health Systems, co-chaired by Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister and Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, was completed on 29th May at the third Taskforce meeting held in Paris

Read Summary and Recommendations and Main report

WORKING GROUP 1 REPORT
WORKING GROUP 2 REPORT
 

Bernard Kouchner, French Foreign Minister and host of the Taskforce meeting in Paris on 29 May, commented: " It is now vital that, rather than turning off the aid tap, we look for the means to increase flow."

Next Steps

Strong political backing for each of the initiatives recommended is critically important. Successful implementation of these recommendations requires purposeful engagement with civil society, both in donor countries and recipient countries.

The Taskforce will report to the G8 in July 2009. Prior to the UN General Assembly in September 2009 a regular forum will be facilitated by WHO and the World Bank, to allow countries and partners, including civil society, to monitor progress. Co-chair of the Paris meeting, Ivan Lewis, UK International Development Minister said: "The economic downturn will hit the poorest hardest. Many millions of poor people will be forced into extreme poverty and hard won gains in health systems are under threat. Innovative financing initiatives are vital if we are to prevent this financial crisis from becoming a human crisis."
Read the press release from Paris meeting

Geneva, May 21, 2009 - By signing the IHP+ Global Compact, Niger became today the 36th member of the International Health Partnership and related initiatives. Signing on behalf of the Minister of Health, Mr. Adani Illo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Niger to the United Nations in Geneva declared that 'signing the Global Compact represents an important step in creating a coherent and inclusive framework for health development in Niger. We hope that this will lead to more predictable, more efficient and increased aid'. The signing event took place on the margins of the 62nd World Health Assembly in the presence of a number of IHP+ signatories.

May 14, 2009 - Over forty senior Southern based delegates from prominent civil society organizations will meet in Johannesburg on 13 and 14 May, as part of the work of the Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems. This will be an important opportunity for participants to voice their views on what steps can be taken to increase funding for health systems to prevent the financial crisis from becoming a human crisis. Read More

May 13, 2009 - Closing date for nominations to the Civil Society Consultative Group has been extended to May 15 READ MORE

May 4, 2009  - In the new IHP+ Update you can read on Mali's Country Compact, Joint Financing Arrangement (JFA) in Ethiopia, IHP+ Phase 1 Report, update on Providing for Health initiative on health financing and social protection, Report on health system surveillance from Ethiopia and Zambia and on upcoming events. Read the Update

Bamako April 20, 2009 - The Government of Mali needs an additional US300 millions over the period 2009 - 2011 to implement the National Health Programme. The aim is to achieve health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Read the press release   Version en Français

Today twelve development partners, donor countries and international health agencies, signed the International Health Partnership(IHP+) Compact pledging to increase and streamline their efforts in assisting Mali to improve health results. Reducing the financial gap, providing predictable funding and greater alignment to national planning, budgeting and aid management procedures are some of key donor commitments laid out in the Compact.

Watch the story on the Mali Compact
Regardez le video sur le Compact Malien
 

Addis Ababa, April 15, 2009 - As a follow up to the Compact commitments, the Government of Ethiopia and its Development Partners - DFID, Spanish Development Cooperation, Irish AID, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and World Bank - have finalized and signed the JFA. 

 Over the eight months since the IHP+ Country Compact came into effect, country partners have made significant strides in implementing this landmark Compact, a broad-base agreement between the GOE and diverse multilateral and bilateral Development Partners - which now serves as the overarching framework for coordinating all funding support to Ethiopia's health sector. Read the press release

April 1, 2009 - The Phase 1 Progress Report outlines the main achievements, and reports on progress against major activities and milestones of the International Health Partnership and Related Initiatives in its first 18 months (September 2007 - March 2009) Read the Report

LONDON: On 13 March 2009 world leaders will convene in London for the meeting of the Taskforce on Innovative International Financing, co-chaired by UK PM Gordon Brown and World Bank President, Robert Zoellick. This Thursday (5 March) the capital will host a pre-cursor meeting to the Taskforce when 60 senior Civil Society delegates from across the globe meet.  Hailing from prominent NGOs, charities and civil society, participants to this Thursday’s consultation will engage in a day-long seminar to share experiences, key learnings and recommendations on innovative financing for health.
Read the press release

World Bank acting as its Treasury Manager and managing IFFIm’s finances, IFFIm has raised more than US$1.6 billion to support GAVI immunisation programmes since 2006. IFFIm has triple-A rating due to the support of seven governments led by the UK, who have pledged to contribute money over 20 years.

Not for distribution in the United States, Australia, Canada or JapanThe proceeds of these pledges are used, among other things, to repay the initial investments plus the fixed return.Stephen Green, Group Chairman of HSBC said: “We are proud to be able to offer this innovative investment opportunity while also supporting a most worthwhile humanitarian cause. By raising funds for GAVI’s immunisation programmes through IFFIm, we will be helping to save and protect a large number of lives in the poorest countries of the world.International Development Secretary of the UK, Douglas Alexander said: "The economic downturn could push millions of people into extreme poverty and cause the deaths of up to 2.8 million children. Innovative initiatives like this are vital if we are to prevent this financial crisis from becoming a human crisis. That is why Gordon Brown is leading a new Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, to help save the lives of many millions more."Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms MP said: "I am pleased we have been able to ensure that IFFIm bonds can be made available through an ISA. This will enable investors looking for ethical returns to benefit from the tax advantages of ISAs and increase funding for life saving vaccines in developing countries. I congratulate all involved in this initiative"The Vaccine Investment Plan and Vaccine Investment ISA are the first initiatives of their kind in the UK to raise funds from personal investors and pay them a competitive return for their funds whilst protecting children in the world’s poorest countries from life-threatening diseases.The Vaccine Investment Plan and Vaccine Investment ISA will be available through HSBC on a non advised basis from 2 March to 24 April. For more information go to hsbc.co.uk/vaccine, or call HSBC on 0800 328 1293, visit any HSBC branch for a full application pack.These materials are not an offer for sale of securities. The securities referred to herein have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and may not beNot for distribution in the United States, Australia, Canada or Japan offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The issuer does not intend to register any part of the offering in the United States or to offer or sell any of the securities in the United States.The Vaccine Investment Plan and Vaccine Investment ISA are offered by HSBC Trust Company (UK) Limited. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

The Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems is working to identify the challenges and costs of strengthening health systems and to identify new sources of finance to help developing countries achieve the health Millennium Development Goals. The objective of the Taskforce is to contribute to meeting national financing gaps for health systems to reach the health Millennium Development Goals by providing recommendations on how best to:

• Mobilize new resources
• Increase the volume and efficiency of health financing
• Enhance the use of raised funds

The scope of the work of the Taskforce is set out in the Terms of Reference. The Taskforce is keen to consult stakeholders and the wider public as they develop their recommendations on innovative financing mechanisms to help complement traditional aid and to deliver and bring forward the financing urgently needed. Your views are critical in achieving real change n how global health services can be improved.

• World leaders called for an additional US$30 billion to save 10 million lives – 3million mothers and 7 million children
• Stronger health systems critical to saving these lives require resources from the international community. For this reason the Taskforce was established
• Halfway to 2015, numerous countries are lagging behind in reaching the health Millennium Development Goals
• Traditional increases in donor aid budgets will not be enough to provide the additional resources to meet the health MDGs so need new streams of funding
• Developing countries will undoubtedly be hit hardest by the current financial crisis.
• Need to prevent this financial crisis from becoming a human crisis

Dr. Lola Dare and Sue Perez were selected to represent Civil Society on the Scaling-Up Reference Group of the IHP+. Their alternates will be Mayowa Joel and Eleine Ireland. The newly appointed representatives and alternates will work on the formation and composition of the Advisory Group. The selection process was convened by International Civil Society Support, at request and under guidance of the Transitional Steering Group Members of the Selection Committee were Ms. Carol Nyirenda from Zambia, Dr. Bobby John from India and Dr. Tim Reed from the Netherlands
More »

A new high-level Taskforce to identify and promote innovative financing mechanisms for health results in poor countries, held its inaugural meeting in Doha at the UN Financing for Development Conference. This builds on substantial experience gained since the first conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey in 2002."This is a unique moment for us all. These are extraordinary, challenging times for the global economy. Yet we know they are also extraordinary, challenging times for the millions of poor. For the tragic truth remains that a child dies every three seconds, a mother dies in pregnancy or childbirth every minute and there are around 7,000 new HIV infections every day" said the UK Secretary of State Douglas Alexander in Doha at the first meeting of the Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems. Read the Press Statement

As a follow up to discussions around the last G8, a conference on global action for health systems strengthening was held in Tokyo on 3-4 November, involving leaders from agencies involved in the global effort to strengthen health systems. Draft papers were discussed, on health information, health workforce and health financing which will now be amended for publication and are attached here for information. Read in full the document ' Global Action for Health System Strengthening'

On November 12, Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, issued a statement on the implications current financial crisis may have on health We face a severe financial crisis of unprecedented dimensions in a world that has never before been so closely connected and interdependent. The consequences are global. The situation is volatile. The current financial crisis is rapidly becoming an economic crisis and threatens to become a social crisis in many countries.
read the statement in full..