Strengthening Health Systems in Poor Countries: A Code of Conduct for Nongovernmental Organizations

AUTOR(ES)

Pfeiffer, James

FONTE

American Public Health Association

RESUMO

The challenges facing efforts in Africa to increase access to antiretroviral HIV treatment underscore the urgent need to strengthen national health systems across the continent. However, donor aid to developing countries continues to be disproportionately channeled to international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) rather than to ministries of health. The rapid proliferation of NGOs has provoked “brain drain” from the public sector by luring workers away with higher salaries, fragmentation of services, and increased management burdens for local authorities in many countries. Projects by NGOs sometimes can undermine the strengthening of public primary health care systems. We argue for a return to a public focus for donor aid, and for NGOs to adopt a code of conduct that establishes standards and best practices for NGO relationships with public sector health systems.

Documentos Relacionados

• Health initiatives in poor countries: what can we learn from them?
• Conduct of drug trials in poor countries must improve
• Recruiting doctors from poor countries: the great brain robbery?
• Faith‐based NGOs and healthcare in poor countries: a preliminary exploration of ethical issues
• Representation of authors and editors from poor countries: Quality medical research from poor countries could be privileged in high impact journals