British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently announced the creation of the International Health Partnership, which hopes to bring more efficiency to the provision of medical aid. The United Nations and the World Health Organization will be part of the coalition, and health ministers from Burundi, Kenya, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Zambia, Nepal, and Cambodia have also shown their interest in the initiative. Under the International Health Partnership, donors will agree to dispense more long-term, predictable funding to developing countries, who can later allocate the money for the construction and maintenance of hospitals and clinics and the training of medical staff. In a statement, Brown emphasized that the developed nations “have the knowledge and the power to save millions of lives” through their humanitarian efforts. (Source: Push to make aid more effective/BBC)
