HIGH LEVEL TASKFORCE ON INNOVATIVE INTERNATIONAL FINANCING FOR HEALTH SYSTEMS: Civil Society Forum
5 MARCH 2009 | LONDON UK - Representatives of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems held a first consultation meeting with civil society actors on 5 March 2009 in London. The 5 March event brought together approximately 50 civil society actors representing diverse constituencies from the North and South including NGOs, AIDS activists, health worker representatives, and research and academic institutions.
Set up in September 2008 in response to the call by world leaders at the UN High Level Event in New York for an additional US$30 billion to save 10 million mother and child lives, the (HLTF) brings together a small number of leading figures in the international community from both the North and the South selected on the basis of the perspectives they can each offer on innovative financing, health systems or political feasibility.
These include, among others, Prime Minister Gordon Brown (United Kingdom) (co-chair), Robert Zoellick (President of the World Bank) (co-chair), President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia), the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg (Norway) Graça Machel (President and Founder, Foundation for Community Development, Mozambique), Director-General of WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, Minister of Health, Ethiopia, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Italy's Minister of Economy and Finance, Giulio Tremonti and United Nations Secretary General's Special Adviser for Innovative Financing for Development, Philippe Douste-Blazy. Its objective is to fill national financing gaps to reach the health MDGs through mobilizing additional resources; increasing the financial efficiency of health financing; and enhancing the effective use of funds.
The objectives of this first civil society consultation were to address the following questions:
- What is the nature of the challenges and what should be the priorities of the Taskforce?
- What are the potential solutions - new and existing in innovate financing for health?
- How can the Taskforce and the donor community make progress as quickly as possible?
- How can the Taskforce continue to engage with civil society effectively?