Vector Issue 12 - 2011

to be coordinated, is a poignant indictment and call
for action. To hear Che Guevara’s daughter speak of
the Cuban health and medical education system was
inspirational, if not embarrassing when she suggested
that Cuba train Indigenous doctors free of charge
so that they may return to benefit our communities
in Australia. If the plenaries reached that level
of discussion, it would be a hugely productive
conference indeed!
The point made here is that good process is important
to good outcome. Our activities must have clarity
of purpose, and strong leadership to steer discussion
and ensure we stay on task. Should I be criticised for
criticising the conference? As was emphasised at the
6th Annual Nossal Institute for Global Health Forum
held immediately after the UN DPI-NGO Conference,
evaluation is a crucial aspect of running aid. The
appropriate response to a fear of donors withdrawing
support due to deficiencies identified by evaluation
of aid programmes (or, similarly, voter support for
government initiatives) is not to neglect critique.
It is to educate donors that evaluation is vital to
improving and following evidence for better practice.
Indeed, improvement, not the outcome per se, should
be the framework under which we measure success.
What of the MDGs, and our strategy beyond 2015?
A few observations were especially influential:
you cannot save the most vulnerable infants and
children without first ensuring the health of their
mothers; educating a boy educates an individual,
‘‘
The observation
that everyone wants
to coordinate, but
no one wants to be
coordinated, is a
poignant indictment
and call for action.
‘‘
while educating a girl educates a family; the MDGs
are donor driven and over-sell the significance of
international aid (aid does not progress the MDGs
when funds flow to developed-world contractors
rather than building local capacity); the MDGs focus
on aggregate measures and averages and are poor
indicators of equity; the MDGs do not cover all issues
important to global health; and prevention is not
only better than cure, but is also cheaper.
The MDGs should not be an end-point in and of
themselves, but a benchmark for measuring the
success of initiatives that develop local capacity.
The MDGs are merely a communication tool used in
assessing progress on our commitment to health as a
universal human right. It is important to remember
that the MDGs are both a moral imperative, and
achievable.
vector FEB 2011
7
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