Health Facts and Figures
This page provides an overview of health in the developing world and the progress being made towards the Millennium Development Goals. It also contains information about the major health challenges faced by poor countries and DFID's impact on improving health in these countries. Facts and figures are also provided about global funds and innovative financing and DFID research relating to health.
Health overview and the MDGs
Health spending
- In the UK we spend about £1,400 per person per year on health – in sub-Saharan Africa it can be as little as £5 per person. The
World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that £17 is the minimum that should be spent on each person.
- 20% of the UK’s bilateral aid goes to health – £515 million a year.
Health workers
- The global shortage of health workers is estimated to be 4 million by 2015.
- Many low income countries have less than one health worker per 1,000 people – the WHO minimum recommendation is 2.5 per 1000, and the European average is 10 per 1,000.
Access to medicines
- Globally, the proportion of people without access to essential medicines fell from less than a half to around a third between 1975 and 1999. However, the total number of people without access remained the same at approximately 1.7 billion.
- In 1999, 16% of countries reported that less than half their populations had access to essential medicines. By 2003, the situation had improved somewhat, with 15% reporting such limited access.
- It is estimated that up to 70% of drugs in some West African countries may be counterfeit, with no guarantee of quality or safety.
MDG progress
- Only 32 of 147 countries are on-track to cut child mortality by two-thirds. On current trends, MDG 4 on child mortality would only be achieved by 2045 – 30 years after the agreed timeframe.
- Asia – 19 countries off-track to meet MDG 4 and 28 off-track to achieve MDG 5 (maternal health).
- Africa – as a whole not on-track to meet any of the MDGs.
- An educated woman is 50% more likely to have her own children immunised.
- Improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene will help prevent the nearly 2 million deaths from diarrhoeal diseases each year. For example, less than half the population of Cambodia has access to safe water and eight out of ten people do not have access to adequate sanitation services.
The health challenges...
Maternal and Child Health
- A child dies every three seconds worldwide. Most of these deaths could have been prevented.
- One woman dies every minute due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth – over half a million women and girls every year - 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries.
- Maternal death is the leading cause of death for girls aged 15 to19 in the developing world - they are twice as likely to die in childbirth as women in their twenties.
- A poor woman in the poorest country is over 200 times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than a woman in a developed country.
HIV and AIDS
- 39.5 million people – nearly equivalent to the population of Spain - are living with HIV in the world up from 36.9 million in 2004 (2006 figs).
- 25 million people have so far died of AIDS (2006 figures) - in 2006 alone, there were 2.9 million AIDS-related deaths.
- There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006.
- 15 to 24 year-olds accounted for 40% of new infections among adults in 2006.
- The UK is the second largest bilateral donor on AIDS. We have committed to spend at least £1.5 billion on AIDS-related work from 2005-08, including £150 million on children.
- DFID AIDS spending in 2005/06 was £385 million, an increase of almost 30% on the 2004/05 figure of £298 million.
- Between 2003 and 2006 the number of people on ART in low and middle income countries rose from 400,000 to 2 million.
The donor coordination challenge
- There are over 40 bilateral donors, 26 UN agencies, 20 global and regional funds and 90 global health initiatives.
- In Zambia, out of all the donor support for health and HIV, only about 10% goes directly to the Government for the support of comprehensive health systems. The remaining 90% goes to support disease specific programmes (e.g. HIV, TB and malaria).
- Zambia’s health system has support from more than 15 major international partners – one floor of the Ministry of Health is taken up by donors’ offices!
- In Cambodia, in the health sector in 2006 there were 22 different donors providing support through 109 separate projects. Only four donors have so far managed to come together to coordinate funding and reviews and less than 25% of health sector assistance is classified as supporting a coordinated programme.
- In Rwanda there are 21 donors and 40 large NGOs active in the health sector. The central Government only manages 14% of donor expenditure.
- Uganda’s Government had to deal with 684 different aid instruments and associated agreements between 2003-4 and 2006-7.
- WHO has 4,600 separate agreements with donors and provides 1,400 reports to donors each year.
- A 14-country survey by the
- When donor coordination works: in Ethiopia, an ambitious national programme to provide universal primary healthcare has been backed by a number of donors. Over 17,000 new salaried female Health Extension Workers, based in health posts close to their communities, are now providing preventive services and basic curative care.
DFID’s impact on improving health
- Zambia: DFID support of £14.5 million over five years is helping Zambia make public health services free to everybody.
- Kenya: DFID supports WHO & non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to distribute free and subsidised mosquito nets. This has led to a 50% reduction in malaria deaths.
- Nepal: Since the legalisation of abortion in 2002 DFID has supported the training of 351 service providers in safe abortion and 70 out of 75 districts now have at least one safe abortion point.
- India: DFID gives flexible health aid nationally and in four priority states. Reduction in infant mortality over recent years: Orissa (112 to 65 per year over 13 years); West Bengal (75 to 48 per year over 13 years); Madhya Pradesh, (88 to 70 per year over seven years). Between 1997 and 2006 annual deaths from TB were down from 500,000 to 370,000, saving 1.2 million lives. DFID supported the National TB control programme, treating 1.4 million people in 2006.
- Pakistan: £70 million for the national health programmes catalysed a three-fold rise in Government funding of those programmes in only four years. Since 2002, successful TB treatment rose from 30% to 85%, leading to 100,000 fewer deaths a year.
- Bangladesh: DFID is the largest supporter of the health sector donor pooled fund. Immunisation coverage is at 80% for the five vaccine-preventable diseases. Infant mortality is down from 116 to 88 (1994-2004). Maternal mortality is down from 574 to 320 (1990-2001).
- HIV / AIDS: DFID is part of the global effort to achieve universal access to treatment. From 2003 to 2006, the number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in poor countries rose from 400,000 to 2 million – but this is still only one-fifth of that needed.
- Polio: DFID is the second largest supporter of global polio eradication (£350 million to date). Polio cases have dropped from 350,000 in 1988 to 2,000 last year.
- Immunisation: An investment of US$4 billion from the
- Health workers: DFID has provided £55 million over six years to Malawi, reducing the vacancy rate and doubling the number of nurses in training. This funding has also seen a 50% salary increase paid to health staff.
- User fees: DFID supported the Ugandan Government to abolish user fees in 2003. Visits to health facilities doubled and immunisation rates doubled to 80%.
DFID bilateral spend in health in first wave countries in 2005/06
- Ethiopia: £3.9 million
- Kenya: £34.5 million
- Mozambique: £15.9 million
- Zambia: £12.7 million
- Cambodia: £6.5 million
- Nepal: £8.4 million
- Burundi: £1.5 million
Global funds and innovative financing
- DFID has committed £359 million over 7 years to 2008 to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and malaria, with a doubling of our pledge for 2006-7 to £100 million per year subject to performance.
- DFID has committed £30 million over 2 years for the current phase of GAVI. For previous phases DFID has spent £35 million.
- UNITAID, the new drugs purchase facility, was established in September 2006. The UK was a founder member and pledged £15 million as part of a 20 year commitment – subject to performance this could increase to £40 million a year by 2010.
- The
- In December 2004, the UK announced support for
Research
- Pakistan – DFID-funded research into why people stopped receiving TB treatment fed into national guidelines and training materials. As a result, successful treatment rates have now leapt from 30% to 84%.
- DFID currently supports:
- International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) (£20 million 2005-08)
- International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) (£7.5 million 2005-08)
- Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) (£10 million 2005-10)
- Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) (£6.5 million 2005-8)
- Global Alliance for TB Drugs (£6.5 million 2005-8)
- Microbicides Development Programme (MDP) (£23.8 million 2006-9)
Updated 04 September 2007
