the aid library

Health financing for the COVID-19 response: Process guide for national budgetary dialogue. ACT-A Health Systems Connector

World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, Global Financing Facility (GFF) et al. World Health Organization (WHO) (2021) CC

Annual and medium-term budget preparation processes are the platforms through which specific plans are transformed into actual resource allocation decisions. The aim of this Process Guide is to support key stakeholders involved in these processes (such as the Cabinet, Ministries of Finance and ... more

Accelerator Discussion Paper 1: Sustainable Financing

Global Fund, World Bank Group, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance et al. World Health Organization (WHO) (2019) CC

The Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All (SDG3 GAP) is a set of commitments by 13 multilateral agencies to strengthen their collaboration. For this purpose several accelerators were created and an invitation for public comment ... more

Beating the DRUM in Lower-Income Countries: Domestic Resource Use and Mobilization for SDG3

The Governments of Burkina Faso and Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank Group Global Financing Facility (GFF) (2018) CC

This paper has been prepared to inform discussion at the conference “Beating the DRUM - Domestic Resource Use and Mobilization for accelerating progress towards SDG3,”. Many countries face critical shortfalls in domestic resource use and mobilization (DRUM) for ... more

International Development Association Project Paper on a Proposed Additional Gran

International Development Association World Bank (2016) C1

IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 21.8 MILLION (US$30 MILLION EQUIVALENT) WITH AN ADDITIONAL GRANT FROM THE GLOBAL FINANCING FACILITY ( ... more

Stronger collaboration, better health: global action plan for healthy lives and well-being for all
recommended

World Health Organization WHO; The Global Fund; UNAIDS, et al. (2019) C_WHO

The overall objective of the Global Action Plan is to enhance collaboration among 12 global organizations engaged in health, development and humani ... more

Reaching the every newborn national 2020 milestones: country progress, plans and moving forward

World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF (2017) C_WHO

To complement the Global Strategy progress reporting, this report provides a detailed look at country leadership and action toward the Every Newborn National Milestones by 2020. Countries have taken the initiative to show the way forward and have de ... more

High-Performance Health Financing for Universal Health Coverage

The World Bank The World Bank (2019) CC

The majority of developing countries will fail to achieve their targets for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)1 and the health- and poverty-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unless they take ... more

Accountability for women’s and children’s health

Flavia Bustreo, Marie-Paule Kieny, Lale Say et al. World Health Organization WHO (2015) C_WHO

Progress Report

Reclaim the Gains - The Case for Investing in the Global Financing Facility 2021–2025

Global Financing Facility (GFF) Global Financing Facility (GFF) (2021) CC

The GFF needs an additional US$2.5 billion from 2021 to 2025 to enable countries to protect health gains and accelerate progress toward the 2030 Goals. Of this amount, the ... more

A Roadmap to combat postpartum haemorrhage between 2023 and 2030

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading ... cause of maternal deaths. Despite being preventable and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 deaths every year. For those who survive, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for years. “Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new roadmap charts a path forward to a world in which more women have a safe birth and a healthy future with their families.” The Roadmap aims to help countries address stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia. Many risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. Too often, however, health facilities lack necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions. “Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response - preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed - alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. “Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities – this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.” more

WHO guideline on preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2025) CC

The objectives of this guideline are the same as those of the 2011 edition, namely to provide evidence-based normative guidance on interventions to improve adolescent morbidity and mortality by reducing the chances of early pregnancy and its resulting poor ... more

WHO Bangladesh Country Cooperation Strategy: 2020–2024

World Health Organization (WHO), Regional Office for South-East Asia (2022) C_WHO

Notable progress has also been made on other key health indicators such as reducing maternal, infant and child deaths and malnutrition, increasing immunization coverage, eliminating infectious diseases such as polio and reducing the incidence of mal ... more

The ACT-Accelerator: Two years of impact

World Health Organization WHO (2022) C_WHO

The two-year impact report for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator details impact, case studies and timelines of key milestones for the Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Vaccines pillars, as well as the Health Systems and Response Connector.

ACT-Accelerator Transition Plan (1 Oct 2022 to 31 Mar 2023)

World Health Organization WHO (2022) C_WHO

31 Oct 2022 his plan outlines how the ACT-Accelerator will support countries as the world transitions to long-term COVID-19 control.   Recognizing the evolving nature of the COVID-19 virus and pandemic, the plan outlines changes to ACT-A’s ... more

Protect the Progress: Rise, Refocus, Recover - 2020 Progress Report on the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016–2030)

UNICEF, World Health Organisation (2020) C_WHO

Conflict, climate crisis and COVID-19 pose great threats to the health of women and children.

Africa’s Health Financing in a New Era

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (2025) CC

Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented financing crisis, driven by a sharp decline of 70% in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabi ... lities. This collapse is placing immense pressure on Africa’s already fragile health systems as ODA is seen as the backbone of critical health programs: pandemic preparedness, maternal and child health services, disease control programs are all at risk, threatening Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Universal Health Coverage. Compounding this is Africa’s spiraling debt, with countries expected to service USD 81 billion by 2025—surpassing anticipated external financing inflows—further eroding fiscal space for health investments. Level of domestic resources is low. TThe Abuja Declaration of 2001, a pivotal commitment made by African Union (AU) member states, aimed to reverse this trend by pledging to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. However, more than two decades later, only three countries—Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde—have consistently met or exceeded this target (WHO, 2023). In contrast, over 30 AU member states remain well below the 10% benchmark, with some allocating as little as 5–7% of their national budgets to health. In addition, only 16 (29%) of African countries currently have updated versions of National Health Development Plan (NHDP) supported by a National Health Financing Plan (NHFP). These two documents play a critical role in driving internal resource mobilisation. At the same time, public health emergencies are surging, rising 41%—from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024—exposing severe under-resourcing of health infrastructure and workforce. Recurring outbreaks (Mpox, Ebola, cholera, measles, Marburg…) alongside effects of climate change and humanitarian crises in Eastern DRC, the Sahel, and Sudan, are overwhelming systems stretched by chronic underfunding. The situation is worsened by Africa’s heavy dependency with over 90% of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being externally sourced—leaving countries vulnerable to global supply chain shocks. Health worker shortages persist, with only 2.3 professionals per 1,000 people (below the WHO’s recommended 4.45), and fewer than 30% of systems are digitized, undermining disease surveillance and early warning. Without decisive action, Africa CDC projects the continent could reverse two decades of health progress, face 2 to 4 million additional preventable deaths annually, and a heightened risk of a pandemic emerging from within. Furthermore, 39 million more Africans could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to intertwined health and economic shocks. This is not just a sectoral crisis—it is an existential threat to Africa’s political, social, and economic resilience, and global stability. In response, African leaders, under Africa CDC’s stewardship, are advancing a comprehensive three-pillar strategy centered on domestic resource mobilization, innovative financing, and blended finance. more

Conditioned Domestic “Co-financing” Policies in Global Health

Sparkes S., Yungrattanachai M., Fan V., et al. Center for Global Development (2024) CC

Conditioned domestic financing policy, referring to the domestic financing of health projects, programs, and national responses conditioned by ... more

International Development Association Project Paper on a proposed additional grant to the DRC

The World Bank (2016) C2

Project Paper to provide an additional grant for: Human Development Systems Strengthening Project (HDSSP)(P145965, H9360)

The cost of austerity: The toll of IMF conditionalities on access to health in Zambia

Make Way, Wemos (2024) CC

Zambia is facing a severe economic crisis marked by high inflation, increasing poverty and a heavy debt burden that is straining both its fiscal stability and progress in health outcomes. By 2020, the country's external debt reached United States do ... more

Banking on health: the surging pandemic of health financialization

Dentico N. Society for International Development (SID) (2023) CC

In the last three decades, health financialization has surged in several creative ways, yet this growing phenomenon remains surprisingly unknown, and neglected, in the global ... more