EU urged to Accept Milestones for improving Aid

21 April 2010: The European Commission today adopted its annual review of development cooperation and progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and urged Member States to adopt measures to ensure Aid commitments are kept. Plan as partner of Action for Global Health (AfGH) Brussels welcomes this approach and urges the Council to ensure that it is applied to the development targets most off track and not just overall aid.

The EU needs to make healthcare free at the point of use for the poorest

Commissioner Piebalgs highlighted in his press conference today health as the area where progress has been the most disappointing – especially for maternal and childhood mortality.
Implicit in this package is Commission acceptance of the EU Court of auditor’s conclusions that health spending has not received the priority it warrants given the EU development objectives. Establishing an intermediate target for support of the sector at 0.1% of GNI should therefore be added to those recommended by the Commission for overall aid.

The EU should now prioritize supporting countries that want to abolish user fees and make healthcare free at the point of use for the poorest”, stated Natalia Alonso, Head of Plan EU Liaison office. This would bolster the leadership required by the current crisis in health.” she added.

A twelve point plan

The twelve point plan highlights the need to target EU aid to where and what is most needed. Yet the detail of the document highlights a paucity of action to support the priority areas. The initiatives being limited to:

• the preparation of a list of priority countries for which sustainable policies can be supported and where education and health needs are greatest
• enhanced policy coherence and further EU political and financial involvement in Global Health Initiatives to ensure that they act as a platform for aid effectiveness and contribute to the strengthening of health systems.

Whilst these small steps are welcomed, they fall a long way short of the redirection in development policy required to ensure the health MDGs are put back on track. It will now be up to the Member States to support establishing health aid targets at .01% of GNI and health care free at the point of use for the poorest when they discuss the health component of this package – the Communication on Global Health.

For more information please contact Sabine Terlecki at sabine.terlecki@plan-international.org

The full set of documentation is available online at the European Commission Development center.