Description

This is the third paper in NCD Alliance's series 'Everybody's Business', a series on bold actions to close the NCD funding gap.

The Australian Government’s investment in cervical cancer elimination is one example of NCDs being integrated into a country’s international development priorities. From 2023–24, the Australian Government will provide $4.77 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA), focusing its efforts geographically in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, while thematically prioritizing gender equality, local capacity-building, health, climate, and social protection systems. The Australian Government’s Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative,  administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), will support the Elimination Partnership in the Indo- Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC) Consortium with a grant of US$ 9.7 million (AU$14.48 million) for a four- year project cycle. It will leverage existing partnerships at the local, regional, and international levels to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, in line with the WHO’s 2020 Global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem (hereinafter “WHO Global Strategy”).

Key messages:

• Overseas development aid should align with the needs and priorities of partner countries and capitalize on local knowledge through community engagement.
• International collaboration makes providing access to NCD prevention and treatment cost-effective and feasible for LMICs.
• When used to support domestic resource mobilization, the sustainability and ripple effects of ODA-supported programmatic work is amplified.