Sida's work with health
Sida contributes to giving more people in the world access to equitable health care. Sida's support strengthens health systems and enables more people to take control of their own bodies. Sida should prevent the spread of infectious diseases, reduce antibiotic resistance and contribute to research that benefits people living in poverty.
Why do Sida work for health?
Far-from-universal health care
Only one third of the world’s population has access to basic health care.1 Access to health care is unequal, both within and between countries and regions, and the gaps are widening. Health care is often expensive and many people have to pay out of pocket for basic health care. Unfortunately, the people who need care the most have the worst access.
Communicable diseases claim victims
One billion people suffer from communicable diseases caused by viruses and parasites.2 The fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria has long been on the right track. But millions of people are still affected every year, leaving many children out of school and adults unable to work. A growing challenge is antibiotic resistance, which occurs when sick people receive the wrong medication for their conditions.
Millions of women and children die unnecessarily
Every 11 seconds, a woman or a newborn baby dies in childbirth, the vast majority in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Over the past 20 years, the global maternal mortality rate has decreased by 34%, but around 800 women still die every day during pregnancy or childbirth, mostly due to poor access to care.3 The situation is worst in countries affected by war and other humanitarian crises. In 2021, 25 million children under the age of 1 did not receive their basic vaccinations due to the pandemic, meaning that more children will die from otherwise preventable diseases.4
Examples of what Sida contributes to
More people get access to healthcare
Through Sida, more people living in poverty and vulnerability have increased access to health care. Sida has, among other things, contributed to the equipping of health centres for pregnant women in Ethiopia during the war, that elderly people in 14 countries received better care and access to health care, and that seven of South Sudan’s ten states have access to basic health services.
Fighting infectious diseases
Although HIV is declining, one person dies every minute from the disease.5 Aid is helping to prevent HIV, provide care and antiretroviral drugs, and enable more people to get tested. The aid has helped provide children under five in Somalia with child health care: vaccination, treatment of malaria, pneumonia and acute diarrhoea. Sida supports the work against antibiotic resistance globally and in several of our partner countries.
Helping to reduce child and maternal mortality
To reduce child and maternal mortality, Sida supports, among other things, further training of midwives, increased access to clean water in health facilities, nutritious food and vaccines. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, millions of children have been immunised against deadly diseases.
Sida's work with health
The last 20 years have seen great progress in the field of health. Never before has so much disease and suffering been avoided thanks to new knowledge, technologies and practices that improve people’s quality of life and prevent and cure diseases.
People living in poverty are more affected by both non-communicable and infectious diseases. This is partly due to a lack of access to quality healthcare, toilets, sewage and waste management, and the ability to maintain hygiene.
Through Sida, more people have access to quality healthcare. Sida helps to ensure that essential medical equipment, medicines and water and sanitation (toilets, sewage and waste management) are available in health centres – to improve access to care for the most vulnerable people. Maternal health, child health care and access to sexual and reproductive health are particularly important and prioritised for Sida.
Here are the areas Sida supports and examples of programmes and projects:
Many people in the world can’t access good health care when they need. This may be due to distant health care centres, a shortage of trained staff or high health care costs. People living in poverty, in conflict zones, in rural areas or belonging to particularly vulnerable groups are particularly hard hit. Dealing with both infectious and non-infectious diseases places great strain on health services in many countries.
Among other things, Sida helps to ensure that more people have access to basic health care, with a focus on child and maternal health and improving the conditions for midwives.
Here are some examples of programmes and projects that Sida supports:
Midwives are an important profession for reducing maternal and child mortality. However, midwives often lack the necessary conditions and resources to carry out their work. Sida supports the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), which strengthens and promotes the midwifery profession by raising the quality of training, ensuring that job descriptions are available and that midwives have the right to a dignified workplace and the resources to carry out their work safely.
Somalia is one of the countries in the world with the highest maternal and child mortality rates.6 Recurrent humanitarian crises and an ongoing armed conflict pose serious challenges to the country’s development. Together with the Swedish Public Health Agency, Sida is supporting the establishment of a Somali public health authority.
About the cooperation on the Swedish Public Health Agency’s website (in swedish)
In Bangladesh, over 70 per cent of health care is paid for out of pocket, which is among the highest in the world.7 Getting sick in Bangladesh is a major financial burden and mainly affects those with the least financial resources.
Sida works with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Bangladesh to increase access to universal health care. This is done by training government representatives in health financing and drawing lessons from other countries in the region.
Sida is supporting a collaboration between Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to develop the country’s maternal and obstetric care. Among other things, nursing schools have started a two-year bachelor programme for midwives and several midwifery institutes of international standard have opened.
The programme helps to raise the status of the midwifery profession and provides increased access to maternal and emergency obstetric care, reduced infant mortality, increased access to contraception and sex education for adolescents, and increased access to sexual and reproductive health services for girls, women and adolescents.
Article Bangladesh investment in midwives reduces maternal mortality rate (in swedish)
The Health Pool Fund (HPF), in partnership with the Ministry of Health in South Sudan, has ensured that millions of people in the country have access to basic health services. Seven of South Sudan’s ten states now have access to basic health services with a focus on maternal and child health and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
Despite a decline in maternal and child mortality, millions of women or newborn babies die during pregnancy and childbirth every year. The majority of these are lives that could have been saved with knowledge and good care. The vast majority of childbirth-related deaths occur in low-income and lower middle-income countries.
Sida contributes to improving maternal and child health by increasing access to maternal and childbirth care and increasing access to knowledge about sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Combating gender-based violence is an important area of health assistance.
Here are some examples of programmes and projects we support:
Struggling to reduce child mortality rates
The mortality rate among children under five is high and one third is related to malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea, diseases that can be prevented and treated.8
Sida supports the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in its efforts to reduce child mortality, including through access to clean water in health facilities, nutritious food and vaccines.
People’s knowledge of their sexual and reproductive rights is generally low. Child marriages, teenage pregnancies and HIV affect many, and almost half of all Zambian women have been victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives.9 Access to contraception is poor and the number of unsafe abortions is high. The organisation MSI Reproductive Choices disseminates information and provides advice on contraception and safe abortion, among other things.
The pandemic affected the ability of young people to receive information about their sexual and reproductive rights (SRHR) in school. This has resulted in an increase in unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, child marriages and sexual violence. Sida’s support to DKT International and Population Services International has helped increase access to contraceptives and medical abortion products in sub-Saharan Africa.
Residents of southern and eastern Africa often have poor access to contraception, maternity care and safe abortion. Sida supports the UN programme 2gether 4 SRHR, which is working on a joint strategy to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights, combat HIV and gender-based violence in eastern and southern Africa, especially for teenage girls and young people.
Sexual and gender-based violence is common in armed conflicts. Through the Women and Girls First programme, Sida has supported sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Myanmar through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Among other things, women have received protection and help through so-called “safe spaces” that can be compared to women’s shelters.
The sexual and reproductive health of women and girls is improving globally. At the same time, conservative forces are threatening people’s rights in some countries. Defending everyone’s right to their body and sexuality is an important issue for Sida.
Ill-health is often due to causes beyond the control of the health sector, such as environmental pollution, lack of nutritious food, gender norms, discriminatory legislation, poverty and natural disasters. These include environmental pollution, lack of nutritious food, gender stereotypes, discriminatory legislation, poverty and natural disasters. A majority of young children die due to lack of water and sanitation.
Sida helps to increase people’s access to clean water, reduce emissions that are harmful to health, curb antibiotic resistance and provide psychosocial support.
Here are some examples of programmes and projects that Sida supports:
In the Palestinian Gaza Strip, many people suffer from resignation and depression as a result of occupation, conflict and oppression. Sida supports the Gaza Community Mental Health Program in Palestine, which provides psycho-social support and psychotherapy through its psychiatric clinics and mobile clinics, helping to strengthen the mental health care system.
Around 1.8 billion people around the world are unable to wash their hands with soap and water and do not have access to clean water.10 This is a major problem in Bangladesh and elsewhere. Sida supports WaterAid, which works to raise awareness of the importance of good hygiene. Hundreds of thousands of face-masks and hand soaps were distributed to people in densely populated and vulnerable slum areas.
In Bosnia, many people burn coal, wood and rubbish to heat their poorly insulated houses. This leads to serious air pollution, which in turn causes people to suffer, fall ill and even die prematurely. By supporting the Green Economic Development programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sida is contributing to major reductions in emissions from public buildings, industries and homes.
Antibiotic resistance occurs when antibiotics are prescribed too casually and bacteria manage to develop resistance. Tackling the problem will require global cooperation in several areas and sectors, including antibiotic prescription and use.
Sida is working with the UN AMR Multi-Partner Trust Fund to strengthen political commitment and engage communities on the issue of antibiotic resistance in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Tajikistan and Peru.
Sida’s health work is guided by strategies from the Government. In 2021, Sida’s total health aid amounted to more than SEK 2.8 billion, which corresponds to ten percent of Sida’s total aid. Sida has three priority areas for health aid:
- Strong health systems
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
- Promoting healthy living
- Statistics Access to basic health care on the WHO website
- Statistics number of people suffering from diseases caused by viruses and parasites on the WHO website
- Maternal mortality statistics on the WHO website
- Reduced vaccination of children during the pandemic leads to more deaths on the WHO website
- Statistics on the number of people living with HIV worldwide on the UNAIDS website
- Child and maternal mortality statistics in Somalia on the World Bank website
- Proportion of health care paid out of pocket in Bangladesh on the World Bank website
- Child mortality statistics on the UNICEF website
- Statistics Percentage of women in Zambia who suffered domestic violence in their lifetime on the RFS website
- Statistics on access to clean water in the world on the WHO website
Updated: July 6, 2023