Peer-reviewed article
Tracking development assistance for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health in conflict-affected countries
Zhihui Li, Linda Richter, Chunling Lu ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study analysed development assistance (DA) funding for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) in 25 conflict-affected countries from 2003 to 2017. Development assistance to RMNCAH increased seven-fold over this period, reaching $3.6 billion by 2017, but funding was not distributed according to disease burden. Reproductive health, particularly HIV/AIDS, received half of all RMNCAH funding despite accounting for less than 6% of health burden, while adolescent health received only 3% of funding despite accounting for 15% of disease burden. The study found that non-communicable diseases among adolescents caused significant health burden but received minimal funding.
Key points
- DA to RMNCAH in conflict-affected countries increased from $0.5 billion to $3.6 billion between 2003 and 2017, with a slowdown since 2013
- Reproductive health received 50% of DA-RMNCAH funding, with 84% earmarked for HIV/AIDS
- Adolescent health received only 3% of DA-RMNCAH despite contributing 15% of total RMNCAH-related DALYs
- Non-communicable diseases caused over one-third of DALYs among adolescents but received only 3% of DA to adolescent health
- The study identified 46,833 projects targeting RMNCAH in the 25 conflict-affected countries during the study period
Limitations
The document does not provide information about the specific impact of funding allocations on health outcomes or the effectiveness of the funded interventions. The study focuses on tracking funding patterns rather than evaluating programme implementation or results in conflict-affected settings.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the patterns of development assistance (DA) for each component of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) in conflict-affected countries nor about the DA allocation in relation to the burden of disease. METHODS: We tracked DA to RMNCAH in general and to each of its four components: reproductive health (RH), maternal and newborn health (MNH), child health (CH) and adolescent health (AH), in 25 conflict-affected countries between 2003 and 2017. We compared DA and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for each component. Using keyword searching and funding allocation methods, we produced two sets of estimates: DA primarily targeting RMNCAH (lower bound) and DA both primarily and partially for RMNCAH or DA not explicitly targeting RMNCAH but benefiting it (upper bound). FINDINGS: Between 2003 and 2017, we identified 46 833 projects among the 25 countries that targeted RMNCAH. During the study period, DA to RMNCAH increased by seven-fold from $0.5 billion to $3.6 billion, with a slowdown since 2013. Cumulatively, RH received the largest proportion of DA to RMNCAH (50%) with 84% of its funding earmarked for HIV/AIDS, which contributed to less than 6% of the total RMNCAH-related DALYs. AH received 3% of the DA-RMNCAH but contributed 15% to the RMNCAH-related DALYs. Non-communicable diseases caused more than one-third of the DALYs among adolescents, but received only 3% of DA to AH. RMNCAH-inclusive estimates showed consistent results. CONCLUSION: While there was a substantial increase in funding to RMNCAH in conflict-affected countries over the period of study, some health issues with high disease burden (eg, AH and non-communicable diseases) received a disproportionately small portion of aid for RMNCAH. We recommend that donors increase investment to RMNCAH in conflict-affected countries, particularly in areas where the burden of disease or the potential benefit of investment is likely to be high.