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The Impact of Spain’s Foreign Aid 

Spain’s Foreign Aid
Spain is a great example of a country with a diverse and organized foreign aid plan. The European nation provides aid in many different sectors to a diverse set of recipients and its population places a high value on international support. Spain’s foreign aid expenditure was a total of $2.9 billion USD in 2019, making it the 13th-largest provider of foreign aid in the world. While Spain’s foreign aid allocations fluctuate due to economic trends and fortune, the nation displays a strong commitment to development across the world. 

Spain’s Aid Strategy

Spain’s foreign aid primarily goes towards Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America as a whole, but there are some exceptions. Some of the main countries Spain gives aid to have a long history or a strong relationship with the country. The top 10 nations that receive aid from Spain are:

  • Venezuela
  • Colombia
  • Turkey
  • El Salvador
  • Syria
  • Morocco
  • Guatemala
  • The West Bank and Gaza Strip
  • Bolivia
  • Ukraine
Of these nations, some were former colonies of Spain whereas some are very close to Spain. For example, Morocco is a mere 8 miles from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar. This could be a primary reason why these nations are among the top receivers of Spanish foreign aid. Still, aid to these top 10 recipients only accounts for a quarter of Spanish foreign aid, showing how balanced and wide-reaching the nation’s aid planning is.

Spain’s foreign aid is diverse and targets many different sectors for development. The primary sector Spain invests in is governance and security, followed by education, industry and trade, humanitarian aid and health care. This makes up about half of the aid that Spain sends out, with the rest unspecified or in smaller sums going to sectors like water and sanitation, infrastructure and debt relief. Spain has recently made crucial contributions in these sectors to donor countries. For example, Spain sent €2 million in aid to Venezuela during its economic crisis, which Spain’s foreign aid agencies spent getting food and medical supplies to the most impoverished.

Aid in the Past Decade

Unfortunately, Spain’s commitments to foreign aid have dropped in recent years, mainly due to economic considerations. The economic crisis of 2008 hit Spain hard, and the country’s foreign aid budget mirrors its economic troubles. Spain currently contributes 0.21% of its GNI (Gross National Income) to foreign aid. This is down from a high of nearly 0.5% in 2009 when the effects of the crisis first hit. While foreign aid commitments suffered in the past decade, Spain has a strong plan to revamp its foreign aid budget in the coming years.

Still, in recent years, Spain has put its foreign aid to good use. The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation’s Humanitarian Action Office identified five current crisis areas that Spain’s current foreign policy plan for 2018 to 2021 emphasized. These are the Syrian regional crisis, the Sahel and Lake Chad, the Palestinian Territories, the Sahrawi Refugee Camps and Latin America and the Caribbean. Spain also participated in various emergency responses to natural disasters. These include the 2018 earthquakes in Indonesia, the 2018 Fuego volcano eruption in India and Cyclone Idai in Mozambique in 2019. The aid Spain provided included on-the-ground disaster response support and the deployment of a team of medical professionals from its health care system in response to the cyclone.

Public opinion towards foreign aid in Spain remains remarkably strong despite the recent downturn in the foreign aid budget. According to a 2018 Eurobarometer survey, Spaniards attached the greatest importance to international aid of any European nationality. It also ranked highest in Europe regarding citizens’ belief that their government should give more emphasis to international aid. 

Looking to the Future

The future of Spain’s foreign aid is bright and signifies a return to the country’s previous strong commitments to foreign aid. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez supports a target of 0.5% GNI contribution to foreign aid and included it as a part of his governing coalition’s agreement.

Spain has been displaying a commitment to a new future of foreign aid recently, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. The country’s foreign development agencies released the Spanish Cooperation Joint Strategy to fight COVID-19, which included an extra $2 billion budget for foreign aid in 2020 and 2021. It also announced that it will prioritize global health and epidemic prevention in its development cooperation policy.

Since 2020, Spain has pledged to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to multilateral institutions such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the Green Climate Fund, the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals Fund and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. These contributions, its balanced aid policies and the populace’s enthusiasm for foreign aid indicate that Spain will continue to be a global leader in this area. 

– Clay Hallee
Photo: Flickr

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7 Facts About Healthcare in Uzbekistan

Healthcare in UzbekistanUzbekistan is a former Soviet country and many consider it to be the population center of Asia with a young population. Since its independence in 1991, the country has diversified its agriculture, while keeping a significant agricultural base to its economy. The quality of healthcare in Uzbekistan endured a drop after its independence from the USSR but now is on the upward trend, even though it remains low in global rankings. Here are seven facts about healthcare in Uzbekistan.

7 Facts About Healthcare in Uzbekistan

  1. Under Soviet control, all healthcare in Uzbekistan was free. However, the government focused on access and less on outcome, leading to weaknesses when dealing with sickness and disease, especially in rural communities. Meanwhile, about 27% of hospitals in rural areas had no sewage and 17% had no access to running water, while doctors received 70% of the salary of a farmer, a common Uzbek job. Now, reforms focused on rural areas have improved conditions in all hospitals, and doctors now make 26 times the amount of a rural farmer.
  2. In Uzbekistan, most people rely on public healthcare providers, organized in three layers: national, regional and city. Private healthcare is minimal due to unsafe practices in treatment and surgery. As a result, the government is the principal employer of health workers, as well as the primary purchaser and provider of health-related goods and services.
  3. Spending on healthcare in Uzbekistan has increased from the country’s independence in 1991, as the country aimed to westernize and reform. Uzbekistan’s current health expenditure is 6.4%. The government health spending increased from $36 to $85 per person; out of pocket spending almost doubled from $37 to $69 per person, and developmental assistance doubled from $3 to $7 per person in the 30 years from its independence. The increased funding led to higher availability in healthcare, especially in rural areas, and better quality of care.
  4. In the past 30 years, Uzbekistan has implemented healthcare reforms in rural areas. Some improvements include increasing sanitation levels in hospitals and healthcare availability, allowing for all patients to get better care. Overall, the under-5 mortality rate has decreased by 50%, and healthcare access and quality (HAQ) grew from 50.3 to 62.9 from 1990 to now.
  5. The physician’s density is low, at 2.37/1000 people, mostly due to the emigration of skilled professionals, even though the median pay for physicians has sharply increased to about $13,000 a year. On the other hand, the hospital bed density is higher than in some highly developed countries, such as the United States, at four for every 1,000 people.
  6. Uzbekistan ranks low in maternal and infant mortality. At 29 deaths out of 100,000, it ranks 114 in maternal mortality. At 16.3 deaths out of 1,000, it ranks 93 in infant mortality. Although its healthcare system has gotten better with reforms in sanitation and access to healthcare, Uzbekistan still needs to create more improvements, as the mortality rate is still high.
  7. Uzbekistan is also low-ranking in adult health. The country holds the rank of 125 in life expectancy, with an average lifespan of 74.8 years. As for the quality of health, Uzbekistan ranks 115 in HIV/AIDS, with a prevalence of 0.2% and ranks 123 in obesity, with a prevalence of 16.6%.

Project Hope

Uzbekistan has not accomplished everything on its own. Many charities have worked with Uzbekistan, such as Project Hope. In 1999, Project Hope established its first office in Uzbekistan, with a focus on reducing child and maternal mortality rates, through the Child Survival Program and Healthy Family Program. It created initiatives, as well as opportunities for sexual education for the new mothers. Since then, under the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Project Hope has focused on creating opportunities for AIDS-focused healthcare and education.

Uzbekistan has made progress in healthcare from the time of its independence, but it still has a long way to go. As Uzbekistan’s government continues to implement reforms heavily focusing on rural areas, it will most likely continue on its upward trajectory and create a health system that is beneficial to all of its citizens. As healthcare grows, poverty will decrease. Currently, Uzbekistan’s most poor are in rural areas, the areas with the least access to healthcare, as well as the lowest levels of sanitation. If Uzbekistan continues making reforms, rural areas will receive more healthcare, decreasing the disadvantage of living there, and therefore increasing the quality of life for Uzbekistan’s poor.

– Seona Maskara
Photo: Flickr

10 Facts: Partnership for Supply Chain Management

partnership-supply-chain-management
Here are ten facts about the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM).

  1. The Partnership for Supply Chain Management is a nonprofit organization established in 2005 by two of the leading international health consultancy organizations in the U.S.—JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) and Management Sciences for Health (MSH), both nonprofits.
  2. PFSCM’s goal is to ensure reliable availability of essential products to programs in the developing world and to strengthen national supply chains to become sustainable mechanisms for delivering these products to clients.
  3. Through its innovative projects, PFSCM procures and distributes essential medicines and supplies, provides technical assistance to strengthen existing supply chains and collaborates with in-country and global partners to coordinate efforts in these areas.
  4. PFSCM is not a traditional procurement services agent in that it takes a holistic approach to deliver integrated supply chain services (from quantification and forecasting to delivery) to ensure commodity security for its clients. PFSCM shares its forecasts and quantifications with vendors and other international organizations supporting health services to the developing world. In times of short supply, the organization works to minimize the effects of shortages for all stakeholders, not just its own clients.
  5. PFSCM assists countries in determining and implementing the most appropriate strategy for each supply chain component, whether managed internally or outsourced, to achieve the best value.
  6. PFSCM is made up of a staff of more than 400 from team member organizations that include nonprofit organizations, commercial private-sector corporations, and academic institutions, providing all the technical skills needed to ensure reliable availability of essential products to international development programs.
  7. Since PFSCM was established in 2005, it has delivered health commodities to countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean and helped strengthen supply chains in more than 20 countries throughout the developing world.
  8. PFSCM has the physical presence of team member field offices in over 90 countries.
  9. Currently, PFSCM is implementing two projects that aim to reduce the worldwide impact of HIV & AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The first program, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), was launched to combat global HIV & AIDS—the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history. The second program, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a major financing institution in the fight against these diseases in 140 countries.
  10. If an organization is interested in procuring items through PFSCM click here. Requested information includes organization details, products you require, quantities, funding availability and funding source, product delivery details, and the level of urgency of your requirement.

– Kira Maixner
Source PFSCM
Photo UNJLC

Lesotho Increases Fight Against TB and HIV

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The small nation of Lesotho has the third highest HIV prevalence in the world, at 24%, and the fourth highest estimated TB incidence. The TB-HIV co-infection rates are the fifth highest in the world and multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is a growing challenge.

The Ministry of Finance of Lesotho recently signed two grant agreements with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria totaling $17 million. These grants will allow Lesotho to expand prevention and treatment of HIV and multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The Global Fund has also invited Lesotho as an interim applicant with US$25 million for HIV and AIDS.

The Minister of Finance, Leketekete, said that the grant agreements “will allow for greater predictability of funding and more strategic investment.”

The Tuberculosis grant will seek to address MDR/XDR-TB, TB/HIV co-infection, expand high quality TB treatment (DOTs), and engage communities in TB control.

Populations that are most at-risk will be reached through prevention interventions that include prevention messages, condom distribution, management of sexually-transmitted infections, and referrals to health facilities.

Lesotho has made great strides towards the reduction of the HIV epidemic. Incidence of new HIV infections declined by 16% between 2008 and 2011.

– Essee Oruma

Sources: allAfrica
Photo: Ezakwantu