Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 07/2010

Global Health, Aid Effectiveness and the Changing Role of the WHO

Wolfgang Hein, Ilona Kickbusch

March 2010

German Institute of Global and Area Studies

Abstract

The fear of pandemics, the significance of health in the fight against poverty, and a proliferation of new actors have increasingly directed international attention towards global health. In this context, the financial resources available for global health as well as the flexibility in problem solving have increased significantly, but at the cost of a proliferation of public and private actors which tends to inhibit the effective use of these resources. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness has been broadly embraced in global health, and there has been a reappraisal of the coordinating role of the World Health Organization (WHO).