Japan’s development cooperation for health in Vietnam: a first holistic assessment on Japan’s ODA and non-ODA public resources cooperation

BMC Public Health

Hidechika Akashi¹  Manami Uechi²  Hiroaki Miyata³  Eiji Hinoshita⁴  Aya Ishizuka⁵  Sangnim Lee⁶  Hisateru Tachimori⁷  Kenji Shibuya⁸ 

[1]Bureau of International Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

[2]Center for Global Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States of America

[3]Department of Health Policy and Management, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

[4]Health and Medical Division, Bureau of Personnel and Education, Ministry of Defense, Tokyo, Japan

[5]Institute for Global Health Policy Research, Bureau of International Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, 162-8655, Tokyo, Japan

[6]Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

[7]Institute for Global Health Policy Research, Bureau of International Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, 162-8655, Tokyo, Japan

[8]Disease Control and Prevention Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

[9]Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Research, the Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Tokyo, Japan

[10]Institute for Global Health Policy Research, Bureau of International Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, 162-8655, Tokyo, Japan

[11]Endowed Course for Health System Innovation, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

[12]Soma COVID Vaccination Medical Center, Fukushima, Japan

关键词: Japan;    ODA;    Health policy;    Vietnam;    UHC;    Health system strengthening;    Health systems;    Development cooperation;    Development assistance for health;    Project monitoring and evaluation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-12170-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundJapan strives to strengthen its development cooperation by mobilizing various resources to assist partner countries advance on Universal Health Coverage by 2030. However, the involvement and roles of various actors for health are not clear. This study is the first to map Japan’s publicly funded projects by both Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other non-ODA public funds, and to describe the intervention areas. Further, the policy implications for country-specific cooperation strategies are discussed. The development cooperation for health in Vietnam is used as a case in this study.MethodsA cross-sectional analysis of the Japanese publicly funded health projects that were being implemented in Vietnam during December 2016 was conducted. A framework of analysis based on the World Health Organization six health systems building blocks was adopted. The projects’ qualitative information was also assessed.ResultsOverall, 68 projects implemented through Japanese public funding were analyzed. These 68 projects under 15 types of schemes were managed by seven different scheme-operating organizations and funded by five ministries. Of these 44 (64.7%) were ODA and 24 (35.3%) were non-ODA projects. Among the recategorized six building blocks of the health system, the largest proportion of projects was health service delivery (44%), followed by health workforces (25%), and health information systems (15%). Almost half the projects were implemented together with the central hospitals as Vietnamese counterparts, which suggests that this is one area in which the specificities of Japanese cooperation are demonstrated. No synergetic effects of potential collaboration or harmonization among Japanese funded projects were captured.ConclusionsSeveral Japanese-funded projects addressed a wide range of health issues across all six building blocks of the health system in Vietnam. However, there is room for improvement in developing coordination and harmonization among the diversified Japanese projects. Establishing a country-specific mechanism for strategic coordination across Japanese ministries’ schemes can yield efficient and effective development cooperation for health. While Vietnam’s dependence on external funding is low, the importance of coordination across domestic actors of the donor countries can serve as an important lesson, especially in beneficiary countries with high external funding dependency.

【 授权许可】

CC BY