Aid for reproductive health: progress and challenges

摘要

As the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, MDG 5-to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health-has shown the least progress of all the goals. This low progress is clearly a major concern in view of the worldwide morbidity and mortality caused by poor access to reproductive health care. Investment in reproductive health care is not only cost effective in improving health outcomes, but is also one of the most effective ways to promote equitable and sustainable development and to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. These benefits have led belatedly to increased donor attention and funding commitments to the reproductive health sector in the past few years. In The Lancet, Justine Hsu and colleagues present findings from their study of official development assistance for reproductive health in 2009 and 2010 to the 74 low-income and middle-income countries with the highest rates of maternal and child mortality (the Countdown to 2015 priority countries). Reassuringly, their findings suggest that aid disbursements indicate renewed political momentum for reproductive health. This study, along with other aid tracking studies, is important because it addresses issues of accountability and transparency of development assistance for health, which has risen from US$57 billion worldwide in 1990 to an estimated $28-1 billion in 2012.