Key over-arching trends that will impact financing for SRHR are four-fold: A significant reduction in public spending specially for health sector by many states in the face of global recession; A growing trend of privatization of health, national governments are drifting away from their responsibilities to provide universal health care; Restrictive conditions of international trade agreements; An increased diverting of development cooperation towards concerns of security.
These combine to increase ‘Out-of-pocket-expenditures’ for health, making the ability to pay the major determinant of access to health care when s/he needs it most. This adversely impacts on the poor and on poor women in particular as women are most-often the last recipients of household financial resources. Despite the fact that there is significant interest in ‘investing’ in women and girls, the large majority of the organizations remain quite small – not by choice, but due to challenges to mobilize the resources they need to fulfil their programmes and visions.
