UCLG Position Paper v_2 (eng)
22/12/09
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A Compilation of Case Studies
responsible for allocating the annual financial ceilings, approving the plans, and releasing the resources on a regular basis to the health sector.
projects. Liz Mason, director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development at the WHO, said only 2% of donor money to maternal and child health is given in this way, even though Tanzania's success has shown that through this approach the authorities were able to secure a much more reliable source of support.32
Between 2002 and 2007, the basket fund has channelled approximately USD $234 million in support of the health sector, and has provided both recurrent budget support to Ministry of Health & Social Welfare headquarters as well as recurrent grants to Local Government Authorities. The fund has also supported day-to-day operations within the health sector and various projects within the development budget.
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Between 1999 and 2004, public expenditure in health doubled and the sector was decentralized. The 'basket fund' has enabled resources to be redistributed in individual districts, providing additional funds per person. Some of the improvements have included increased coverage of key child-survival interventions, such as integrated management of childhood illness, insecticide-treated nets, vitamin A supplementation against blindness, oral rehydration therapy against diarrhea, immunization, and exclusive breastfeeding.31 Experts say the reforms have worked because they’re based on an investment in health systems, instead of specific health intervention projects. According to the Joint External Evaluation of the Health Sector, 2007, “The Health Basket Fund has played a particularly important role in supporting the meaningful implementation of decentralization of responsibility for health services to Local Government Authorities.” The Evaluation recommended that the basket fund and direct Government of Tanzania grants to councils for the operation of health services, based on a transparent resource allocation formula, should remain a feature of the sector during the next Health Sector Strategic Plan. In 2008, the Government of Tanzania and Development Partners subsequently signed a new Memorandum of Understanding for a Health Basket Fund. Currently, only a handful of countries request that donors give funds to their general budget rather than to specific 31 Other determinants of child survival that are not related to the health system did not change between 1999 and 2004, except for a slow increase in the HIV/AIDS burden. 32 From April 21 2008 website article “Tanzania uses health funds well,” hc2d.co.UK, http://www.hc2d.co.uk/content.php?contentId=6442. hc2d aims to provide a single repository of healthcare news and comment from a wide range of news sources.
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