Reproductive Health Aid: A Delicate Balancing Act

CentER Discussion Paper Series No. 2011-027

30 Pages Posted: 5 Apr 2011 Last revised: 20 Apr 2011

See all articles by Hendrik P. van Dalen

Hendrik P. van Dalen

Tilburg University, CentER; Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)

Maja Micevska Scharf

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: February 23, 2011

Abstract

In this contribution the authors show that development assistance targeting reproductive health overwhelmingly concentrates on HIV/AIDS at the expense of family planning elements. Data on financial contributions disbursed by governments and private foundations are used as collected by the Resource Flows project as initiated by UNFPA/NIDI. The current allocation of aid does not accord well with the plans made in Cairo at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. Part of the explanation is that future health needs are difficult to predict, but it also shows how strong the influence of one donor, i.e. the United States, is in this setup. The landscape of population assistance is a highly volatile one, brought about not only by political issues like the Global Gag Rule, but also issues of collective action design as assistance under the heading of the Millennium Development Goals crowds out family planning. A complicating factor is that development assistance for reproductive health is at some points ill-adjusted towards the needs of developing countries.

Keywords: health, development aid, AIDS, fertility

JEL Classification: F35, I18, H87

Suggested Citation

van Dalen, Hendrik P. and Scharf, Maja Micevska, Reproductive Health Aid: A Delicate Balancing Act (February 23, 2011). CentER Discussion Paper Series No. 2011-027, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1799192 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1799192

Hendrik P. Van Dalen (Contact Author)

Tilburg University, CentER ( email )

Tilburg University
P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, NL-5000 LE
Netherlands
+13 4668982 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.tilburguniversity.nl/webwijs/show/?uid=h.p.vandalen

Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) ( email )

P.O. Box 11650
NL-2502 AR The Hague
Netherlands
+70 356 5237 (Phone)
+70 364 7187 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.nidi.knaw.nl/en/staff/vandalen/

Maja Micevska Scharf

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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