Devex: Opinion: Are global financing institutions lending a hand or imposing handcuffs?
Rosalind McKenna, senior program officer with the Open Society Public Health Program, and Josea Rono, managing partner at E&K Consulting Firm

“…There is no doubt that country ownership — and country leadership — is critical. We need to put national governments at the center of generating and allocating resources and deciding priorities [for spending on health services]. Yet more than four years after [the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents’ (GFF)] launch, new research shows limited evidence that national governments are actually committing domestic resources to meet the health needs that GFF was created to address. … If international financing institutions really want to help governments deliver health goals, they need to consider whether they are simultaneously tying the hands of governments. Sustainable health financing requires rethinking the burden of debt faced by many countries and the types of economic policies that will allow health systems to flourish. … We need to get honest about whether the processes we are putting in place to mobilize those resources are working as best they could” (1/14).