Global Health Fund

HC Deb 01 May 2003 vol 404 cc488-9W

Sandra Gidley

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when her Department will come to a conclusion upon financing the next round of funding to the Global Health Fund; on what criteria this judgment will be based; and if the details of this judgment will be made publicly available. [110364]

Clare Short

DFID have committed $200 million (£124 million) over the five-year period to 2006 and have already disbursed $80 million.

Wherever possible the fund should be providing support behind the strategies that help deliver sustainable improvements in health care. We will work with the Global Fund on developing methods for assessing its contribution to this agenda as future DFID funding to the fund will depend on its effectiveness. Monitoring systems are being put in place to measure the impact of its investments—the results of which will be made available by the fund.

Sandra Gidley

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman), 13 March 2003,Official Report, column 355W, what other instruments designed to improve basic health care in poor countries her Department plans to use; and if she will make a statement on her conclusion that performance of the Global Health Fund has been mixed. [110424]

Clare Short

In addition to our commitment to the Global Fund, we have also committed £1.5 billion to support the development of health systems in developing countries. There are a variety of aid instruments available to deliver this support. We will work with governments of recipient countries to decide which is appropriate according to national priorities and plans. Our goal is to support their effort to lift themselves out of poverty.

We believe that wherever possible the fund should be providing support behind national strategies that help deliver sustainable improvements in health care. The fund is at a very early stage of development; it is putting in place systems to monitor its performance both as an organisation, and in terms of its impact at country and global level. We will use these measures of effectiveness to assess our future contributions.