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Health Projects

Volume 448: debated on Wednesday 5 July 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding his Department has committed for long-term health sector projects in developing countries for (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08 and (c) 2008-09. (81829)

[holding answer 3 July 2006]: DFID does not track long-term health sector spending because we provide pooled financial support for basic health services. But, as the Prime Minister recently made clear, we are committed to making good on our G8 promises, and a key part of this is to support developing countries with long-term, sustainable financing for health. We are currently working with developing countries, NGOs and other partners to encourage development of long-term—10 year—health plans and to ensure that predictable support is available from donors for them. This long-term support will provide poor countries with the security to make long-term investments and meet the costs of salaries, drugs, infrastructure and training. We have also increased our funding to multilateral organisations supporting countries to strengthen their health services, including to the Global Fund and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). We are spearheading innovative efforts to secure significant additional resources for essential health care through the International Finance Facility for Immunisation, with the first bond issue due in the coming months.