Andualem Sisay | AfricaNews

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The Ethiopian Ministry of Health (EMOH) announced that there was a USD$ 2.6 billion financing gap to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the health sector of that country.

At the signing ceremony of a joint financing worth 100 million dollars with six development partners held at the Hilton Addis this week, Dr Nejmudin Kedir, policy planning and finance head with the Ministry, said there was a huge financial gap to address major health problems in Ethiopia.

The finance was required to deal with malaria, HIV AIDS, TB, maternal health, to build hospitals and health centers and for the expansion of universal primary health.

The MDGs target is to halve poverty and deaths with the above major diseases from the developing countries by 2015.

The joint statement issued by the Ethiopian government and the seven development partners stated that the signing of the joint financial agreement marked an important milestone in the purposeful journey jointly embarked on last August, when Ethiopia became the first to sign a country compact within the framework of the International Health Partnership (IHP).

“At the core of the Ethiopian IHP compact is a joint ambition to accelerate progress towards the health related MDGs and improve the health of all Ethiopians,” the statement said.

Dr. Nejmudin said there was only a small increase in funding commitments. He said that there was also a problem with the predictability of the fund coming from donors, adding that politics impacted the fund flow. “This has created a problem in planning different projects,” he said.

The joint financing was signed between the MoH and DFID, Irish Aid, Spanish Cooperation, World Bank, UNFPA, UNICEF, and WHO. On the occasion, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, The Minister of Health, said he was very delighted to sign the joint agreement. “It was just like seeing your child grow,” he said.

Dr Tedros urged the development partners to channel the fund and to keep their commitments.

The MDGs represent a global partnership that has grown from the commitments and targets established at the world summits of the 1990s.

Responding to the world’s main development challenges and to the calls of civil society, the MDGs promote poverty reduction, education, maternal health, gender equality, and aim at combating child mortality, AIDS and other diseases.

Set for the year 2015, the MDGs are an agreed set of goals that can be achieved if all actors work together and do their part. Poor countries have pledged to govern better, and invest in their people through health care and education. Rich countries have pledged to support them, through aid, debt relief, and fairer trade.