FROM THE FIELD
Merlin's field staff welcome the announcement on health funding at the UN General Assembly this week as a step in the right direction, but argues that much more needs to be done to ensure access to free health care for all in their countries. £3.2 billion was made available to improve health services across the developing world, especially for women and children. This was targeted towards to the following countries: Nepal, Liberia, Malawi, Burundi, Ghana and Sierra Leone. The UK government pledged £250 million of this amount, and urged the above countries to expand access to free health care. Liberia The Liberian government committed to permanently scrap user fees for all, with the help of adequate donor finance. Merlin's Country Director in Liberia, Lawrence Oduma, welcomed the commitment from international donors and the Liberian government, but believes that quality free health for all is unlikely to be achieved within a short time frame. "It requires a sustained commitment from the government, donors and other stakeholders within the health sector over a period of time," he explains. "The latest national survey showed that only 41% of the population had access to health care. The government has a target of 75% by the end of the year but I highly doubt that this will be met. More funding is needed to employ the amount of health workers needed to cater for this amount of people, and to ensure they have the right skills to do their job. We also drastically need to improve the conditions of the dilapidated health facilities in the country and ensure that we have a constant drug supply. It's no good declaring health care free if we don't have the health workers to deliver it, and we can't offer a decent level of care. We also need to make sure that this is sustainable. Will donors commit for the long-term." Nepal The Nepalese government committed to increasing provision of free basic health care, including doubling free care in childbirth for pregnant women. Maxime Piasecki, Merlin's Country Director in Nepal acknowledged DFID’s commitment to improving health services over the years: "The free health services policy has been in place since 2008, accompanied by an increase in the number of health workers and better allocation of drugs. But access to health care is still a huge challenge in Nepal, especially in the remote parts of the country. If we are to meet the millennium development goals for child and maternal health, we have to focus on these areas, where lack of access to health care is much more acute. Very few women go to give birth in a health centre as they are too far away, and often when they get there, the health staff are not adequately trained."[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
