World Invests $200 Billion to Make Countries Healthier
SEATTLE, June 16 (UPI) — World governments have invested more than $200 billion in lower-income and developing nations over the last 15 years, largely as a result of the United Nations’ establishment of its Millennium Development Goals in 2000.
Amid the large increase in spending during that time, a slowdown in investments over the last five years have cut funding for some countries and projects almost in half, according to a new study.
“Even though funding growth has stalled in recent years, it’s clear that funding in support of specific Millennium Development Goals grew at an exceptional rate during the first decade the goals were in place,” said Dr. Joseph Dieleman, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, or IHME, at the University of Washington, in a press release.
In its study, the IHME tracked funding for all development- and health-related funding in low- and middle-income countries, including all sources of funding from outside those countries’ governments, since 1990. According to a summary of the report, a total of $458 billion has been provided to the countries for development assistance since 1990, coming from other world governments and private companies and organizations.
Funding from countries grew rapidly from 2000 to 2010, then stagnated, with just $35.9 billion contributed in 2014, slightly less than half what would have been contributed if funding continued to flow at the same rates as it did during the first decade of the millennium.
In 2014, the United States was the largest source of funding, contributing $12.4 billion to global health.
In addition to massive contributions from the international communities, the low- and middle-income nations are kicking in increasing amounts of their own money. Health spending by those countries reached an all-time high of $711.1 billion in 2012, growing 9.7 percent between 2011 and 2012.
“While a great deal of attention is focused on donors’ efforts to improve health in developing countries, the countries themselves invest much more money,” said Dr. Dieleman. “For every $1 donors spend in global health, developing countries spend nearly $20. However, in some low-income countries, it’s one donor dollar for every dollar spent by the country.”
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
