Allocating resources to joint health and environment interventions
Delegates at IMCHE3 discuss ideas on how to increase funding for joint health and environment interventions
Since the adoption of the Libreville Declaration on Health and Environment in 2008 by African Member States, much progress has been made in terms of interventions integrating these two areas. The institutional framework in the countries has also evolved, and action plans have been put in place. However, e financing or increasing financial resources for joint health and environment interventions still remains a major challenge.
The moderator of the session, Dr. Eléonore Armande Gandjeto, Deputy Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Health of Benin, invited participants to propose actions that can be taken into consideration by ministers of health and the environment during their meeting which begins tomorrow.
Participants from different African countries each expressed their opinions and shared their experiences, proposing innovative ideas for financing health and environment in Africa including:
• increasing the contribution of the national budget to health and environment interventions,
• finding better planning mechanisms to efficiently direct the already available financial resources
• favouring integrated and multisectoral actions, the challenge being to avoid increasing the tax burden faced by African populations. This could involve the integration of an environmental friendly component into all projects; an option that could be required by technical and financial partners, for example,
• developing project proposals to benefit from the funds available under international initiatives,
• setting up a specific and independent fund for the management of health and environment interventions.
• considering approaches that focus on local interventions and financing
• encouraging actions involving the private sector, through the establishment of public-private partnerships, the implementation of the 'polluters pays principle which states that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it;
• integrating health and environment projects into the Corporate Social Responsibility policies,
• conducting advocacy and lobbying actions with governments by promoting the marketing approach to draw attention to the economic value of implementing health and environment interventions;
• reminding leaders of commitments made in the context of the signing of international treaties and agreements that refer to the link between health and the environment.
