Restrictive IMF Policies Undermine Eff­orts at Health Systems Strengthening (HSS)

Overview

In  recent  years,  health  advocates  and  donors  alike  have  increasingly  recognized  the  need  for  “health systems  strengthening  (HSS)”  in  developing  countries  to  undergird  their  other  disease-specific  efforts. Additionally,  aid  recipients  are  expected  to  devote  greater  domestic  resources  towards  such  HSS  efforts, which  will  require  scaled-up  levels  of  public  investment  as  a  percent  of  GDP.  There  is  reason  for  concern, however,  that  countries  will  be  unable  to  do  this  now  for  the  same  reasons  they  have  chronically underfunded  public  investment  for  much  of  the  last  30  years:  to  stay  in  compliance  with  the  conservative policy  orthodoxy  of  the  International  Monetary  Fund  (MF),  which  has  been  based  on  strict  notions  of fiscal  balance  and  price  stability  (low  inflation).   

This report is part of a series, The World Health Report 2010 Background Papers, which were written to inform the process of developing the key messages of the World Health Report 2010: Health systems financing: The path to universal coverage.