Improving the quality and availability of health services with a strong focus on maternal and child health has been a longstanding component of Ireland’s international development programme. Access to health services, including access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, is transforming women’s lives. For example, women's life expectancy in Mozambique was 46.12 years in 1996, when Ireland first started the development programme there. Last year, the WHO calculated female life expectancy in Mozambique as 62.3 years, a remarkable increase in 20 years although clearly more needs to be done: Irish support for health service provision with an emphasis on maternal and child health, together addressing HIV / AIDS helped support this positive change.
Ireland's policy for international development, A Better World, commits the Government to deepen and expand on its existing partnerships in this area. Ireland currently works with a range of global and international organisations, as per the table below. In addition, Ireland supports health service provision through the bilateral programmes in a range of countries, including Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Organisation
|
2018
|
2019
|
WHO
|
700,000
|
1,050,000
|
UNFPA
|
3,500,000
|
3,500,000
|
UNICEF
|
7,200,000
|
7,200,000
|
GLOBAL FUND
|
10,000,000
|
10,000,000
|
GAVI
|
3,000,000
|
3,000,000
|
UNESCO
|
500,000
|
500,000
|
UNAIDS
|
2,400,000
|
2,400,000
|
IRC
|
1,100,000
|
1,500,000
|
Total
|
28,400,000
|
29,150,000
|