Getting to Zero
Sustainable Financing of National HIV Responses
Tax capacity—the policy, institutional, and technical capabilities to collect tax revenue—is part of a deeper process of state building that is essential for achieving the sustainable development goals. This Staff Discussion Note shows that developing countries have made some progress in revenue... mobilization during the past decades, but that much more is needed. It finds that a staggering 9 percentage-point increase in the tax-to-GDP ratio is feasible through a combination of tax system reform and institutional capacity building. Achieving this calls for a holistic and institution-based approach that focuses on improving policy, administration, and legal implementation of core taxes. The note offers practical lessons and guidance, based on IMF capacity-building experience in this area.
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In contrast to bilateral aid, aid disbursed from
multilateral institutions increased significantly at the onset
of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, at a time when a coherent
and effective multilateral response is needed most, the
COVID-19 pandemic revealed a shifting landscape of donor
agencies that... struggle with basic functions, such as crossnational coordination. While multilaterals are uniquely
positioned to transcend national priorities and respond
to pandemics, functionally we find official development
assistance (ODA) from these entities may increasingly
mimic the attributes of bilateral aid. We explore three
important, but not comprehensive, attributes of aid leading
up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) earmarking,
(2) donor concentration and (3) aid modality.
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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 health arena. Financialization in the
health domain could be described as the uncontrolled expansion of finance along vari...ous lines of healthcare provision. Health has been intentionally transformed into a commodity as private for-profit actors have been allowed freedom to operate - and ultimately play with people’s fundamental right to health - for their vested financial interests, nationally and internationally. Health financialization is thrivingly pursued today for example through the institutionalization of medical knowledge monopolies, the expansion of markets and of financial techniques applied to healthcare insurance schemes, the soaring digitalization of global health interventions and the booming data industry.
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Development finance is at a turning point, as the macroeconomic environment has changed profoundly and the financing gap for low- and middle-income countries has widened. The events that led to this new situation are the multiple crises that the global economy is facing, such as the climate crisis, ...the COVID-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine. As a
result, interest rates have risen sharply over the past year and are not expected to decline anytime soon. High interest rates further restrict low- and middle-income countries’ access to international financial markets by making borrowing more expensive. At the same time, debt
levels in several countries are rising to levels that are almost impossible to repay. Poorer countries find themselves in a trap where financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) becomes a distant goal for them.
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There is growing pressure on PEPFAR, the U.S. global HIV program, to increase its planning for sustainability, including through domestic resource mobilization and, ultimately, transitioning financing at
least in part to recipient countries. While this is connected to a broader push in global healt...h and development, driven by a constrained financing environment and desire to promote more countryownership of programs and services, there are specific questions facing PEPFAR’s future. A National Academy report from 2017, for example, recommended that PEPFAR look toward phasing down its spending and supporting countries in their transition from bilateral aid to domestic financing for HIV. At a
Senate hearing last year, PEPFAR was asked how it was working to increase domestic resources and under what conditions would it need less resources to accomplish its goals. Recent challenges in securing a five-year reauthorization of the program have only served to heighten the focus on
sustainability and domestic resource mobilization. How PEPFAR does this, however, remains an ongoing question.
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There has never been a more critical moment to invest in WHO, and strengthen the unique role it plays in global health. Now is the time to sustainably finance WHO and invest in a healthy return for all.
The world is facing a sustainable development crisis. The 2024 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Financing for Development at a Crossroads finds that financing challenges are at the heart of the crisis and imperil the SDGs and climate action. The window to rescue the SDGs and prevent a c...limate catastrophe is still open but closing rapidly. Financing gaps for sustainable development are large and growing – the estimates by international organizations and others are coalescing around $4 trillion additional investment needed annually for developing countries. This represents a more than 50% increase over the pre-pandemic estimates. Meanwhile, the finance divide has not been bridged, with developing countries paying around twice as much on average in interest on their total sovereign debt stock as developed countries. Many countries lack access to affordable finance or are in debt distress. Weak enabling environments are preventing progress. Average global growth has declined, while policy and regulatory frameworks still do not set appropriate incentives. Public budgets and spending is not fully aligned with SDGs. Private investors are not incentivised to invest enough in SDGs and climate action. The world is at a crossroads. This is the last chance to correct course if we want to achieve the SDGs by the 2030 deadline. Only an urgent, large-scale and sustainable investment push can help us achieve our global goals. Next year’s Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025 will be a once in 80-year opportunity to support coherent transformation of financing.
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Challenges and Opportunities. This report presents a comprehensive assessment of the education and labor markets for nurses in the ECSA region. It documents the main challenges to train and deploy nurses and discusses opportunities for government and private sector employers to overcome these chall...enges. The report provides empirical evidence to support the expansion of nursing education within the region with a focus on private sector engagement, effective labor market regulation, and regional collaboration. A regional focus for investment may be necessary to create enough potential deals, reduce individual country and regulatory risks, encourage good private institutions to move across borders within the region, and seek to create regional standards for regulation.
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Mozambique was the first country outside of the Sahel to successfully implement seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) on a large scale. This learning paper captures some of the lessons drawn from the implementation process.
Implementation reference guide. This Malaria Surveillance Assessment Toolkit implementation reference guide is a comprehensive reference document, as well as a step by-step guide. It aligns and adapts available tools into a single set of standardized tools, which can be used to conduct malaria surve...illance assessments across all transmission settings. Use of these standardized tools allows comparison of results between countries and within the same country over time, enabling countries to track their progress towards surveillance system strengthening.
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Anopheles stephensi is an invasive mosquito species which has been found spreading across Africa. While this species presents a new challenge for malaria control on the continent, its surveillance and management have been ongoing in Asia for many years. This document aims to summarize key lessons fr...om 3 countries – India, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Sri Lanka – that have been working to control An. stephensi. It is hoped that their experiences and insights will be valuable for countries encountering An. stephensi for the first time.
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The Manual for Indoor Residual Spraying in Urban Areas for Aedes aegypti Control is intended not only for operational personnel and middle and senior management of programs responsible for the prevention and control of Aedes-borne diseases, but also for the academic community involved in Aedes resea...rch, private pest control personnel, and the general public.
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This operational guidance provides a structured approach to support countries in sustaining priority services for HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections in the context of reduced external funding. The guidance is intended for national governments, public health programmes, communit...y-led organizations, civil society, technical partners and donors working to safeguard priority services, support phased adaptation, protect health outcomes and preserve hard-won gains.
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COVID-19 has heavily emphasized how contact tracing is crucial for managing outbreaks, and as part of the strategy for adjusting, and eventually lifting, lockdowns and other stringent public health and social measures. As the pandemic develops further, it will be a core measure to manage further wav...es of infection. In early June 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an online global consultation on contact tracing in the context of COVID-19, looking at the lessons of the pandemic to date; known and emerging best practices; and the measures necessary for urgent implementation, scale-up, maintenance and enhancement of contact tracing activities.
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The aim with this study was to examine in what amount disabled children in South Africa can live a participating life in society, with focus on special needs schools and their capability to empower the children. The data material has been collected through eight qualitative interviews, and observati...ons at seven special needs schools in the country. Through my result I have distinguished three main roads to empower the children: First, to analyze social structures, secondly, to gain knowledge and awareness, and thirdly, to strengthen the children’s self-esteem. I have also analyzed the structural barriers that are hindering disabled children to participate, and illustrated this by describing social policies and their effect on special needs schools in South Africa.
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This book contains the findings of technical reviews of eight transitional shelter designs. It is divided into sections:
- Section A discusses transitional shelter design briefs, includes a programming checklist and explains how the shelters in this book were reviewed.
- Section B contains... summary findings of the technical reviews for the eight shelters.
- Section C contains design details for foundations, walls and roofs.
- Annexes contain details of materials, a template design brief, conversion tables, a glossary, and references.
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Guidelines of Contingency Planning for Disaster Management in Indonesia