a Centre for EU Studies, Department of Political Sciences , Ghent University , Gent , Belgium.
Glob Health Action. 2019;12(1):1614371. doi: 10.1080/16549716.2019.1614371.
: In the field of international health assistance (IHA), there is a growing consensus on the limits of disease-specific interventions and the need for more health system strengthening (HSS). European donors are considered to be strong supporters of HSS. Nevertheless, little is known about how their support for HSS translates into concrete policies at partner country level. Furthermore, as development cooperation is a shared policy between the EU and its Member States, it remains unclear to what extent European donors share a similar approach. : This article reviews a PhD thesis on European aid and HSS. The thesis investigated (1) the approaches of European donors towards IHA, and (2) the extent to which there are similarities or differences between them. An original analytical framework was developed to make a fine-grained analysis of European donors' approaches in the DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique. In addition, the relation of European donors with the Global Fund was investigated. : An abductive research approach was used during which literature review, data generation, analysis and research design mutually influenced each other. The research built on a wide range of empirical data, including semi-structured interviews with 123 respondents, policy documents and descriptive statistical analysis. : Four 'types' of European donors were identified, which vary in their focus (issue-specific versus comprehensive) and their level of support to and involvement of recipient states. Despite this heterogeneity at a specific level, there is still a general degree of 'unity' among European donors, especially compared with the US. Yet, there are signs that the 'transatlantic' divide on HSS may be converging, as European donors tend to focus more explicitly on result-oriented approaches traditionally associated with the US and Global Health Initiatives. Consequently, European donors play a limited role in bringing HSS more to the forefront in IHA.
在国际卫生援助（IHA）领域，人们越来越认识到针对特定疾病的干预措施的局限性，以及加强卫生系统的必要性。欧洲捐助者被认为是加强卫生系统的有力支持者。然而，人们对他们对加强卫生系统的支持如何转化为伙伴国一级的具体政策知之甚少。此外，由于发展合作是欧盟及其成员国共同的政策，因此仍不清楚欧洲捐助者在多大程度上采取类似的方法。本文回顾了一篇关于欧洲援助与加强卫生系统的博士论文。该论文探讨了（1）欧洲捐助者对 IHA 的方法，以及（2）它们之间是否存在相似之处或差异。为了对欧洲捐助者在刚果民主共和国、埃塞俄比亚、乌干达和莫桑比克的方法进行细致分析，开发了一个原始的分析框架。此外，还研究了欧洲捐助者与全球基金的关系。采用溯因研究方法，文献综述、数据生成、分析和研究设计相互影响。研究基于广泛的实证数据，包括对 123 名受访者的半结构化访谈、政策文件和描述性统计分析。确定了四种“类型”的欧洲捐助者，它们在重点（特定问题与全面）和对受援国的支持程度和参与程度上有所不同。尽管在特定层面上存在这种异质性，但欧洲捐助者之间仍然存在一定程度的“统一”，尤其是与美国相比。然而，有迹象表明，在加强卫生系统方面，“跨大西洋”分歧可能正在趋同，因为欧洲捐助者往往更明确地关注传统上与美国和全球卫生倡议相关的注重结果的方法。因此，欧洲捐助者在将加强卫生系统更多地纳入国际卫生援助方面发挥的作用有限。
