Health care

Achieving health and wellbeing for all

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Ensuring health rights and access to health services in fragile settings

Health is a basic human right. Cordaid wants to ensure that everybody has access to quality health care. Especially women and youth in fragile conflict- and violence-affected settings (FCVAS),  where access or availability of such services is not a given. We are committed to increase access to sexual and reproductive health services for youth and vulnerable people, like HIV-affected persons. We contribute to more adequate and more affordable health care services through result-based financing. We address individual and collective trauma in post-disaster and conflict-affected settings where psychosocial support is a precondition or traumatized people to rebuild their lives.
Our work contributes directly to Sustainable Development Goal 3.

What we do

Universal Health Coverage

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) aims to ensure that everyone, especially women and children and vulnerable people receives adequate affordable services. Cordaid contributes to UHC by improving access to quality health services. We do this in close cooperation with local health care providers, national authorities and international stakeholders. 

Read more in our brochure ‘Universal Health Coverage‘
- English brochure
- French brochure
Have a look at our campaign #HealthForAll.

To contribute to UHC, we focus our activities on the following thematic expertise areas:

1. Health System Strengthening through RBF

Result-based financing (RBF) and performance-based financing (PBF)  are our guiding approaches to strengthening health systems. We achieve this by linking payments directly to performance: health care providers receive payments after verification of their outputs, in terms of agreed quantity, quality and client satisfaction indicators. RBF/PBF transforms the governance of health systems. The strategy introduces checks and balances, motivates staff, and involves government authorities. Communities are engaged in both health facility governance and in local health promotion.

Read more in our brochure ‘Strengthening health systems through RBF‘
- English brochure
- French brochure

Watch this video on RBF:

Watch this video on RBF in the Central African Republic:

Watch this video series about our work in the Omo Nada Hospital in Jimma:

2. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Cordaid supports the empowerment of young women and men, regardless of gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation, to make lifesaving choices related to their own Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).  How? By

promoting informed decision-making and providing SRHR services, contraceptives, and medicines;  
providing life skills, gender & sexuality education for young people   
challenging ‘fake information’, taboos and harmful practices; 
providing youth-friendly SRH services; 
supporting one-stop centres for SGBV survivors; 
creating an enabling environment to reduce barriers to fulfil SRHR and to reduce SGBV.

Read more about our Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights services:

Brochure ‘Delivering SRHR services in fragile contexts’
- English brochure
- French brochure
Brochure ‘Working with religious leaders on sexual and reproductive health’ (English)
Brochure ‘Jeune S3, a programme for, with and by the young people’
- English brochure
- French brochure
Read more about JeuneS3 on this page.

Watch this video about Jeune S3, a programme for, with and by young people:

3. Global Health, Global Access

By combining public awareness and policy influencing actions, we aim to restore the Dutch commitment to spend 0,7% of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance, and 0,1% on Global Health. This will be achieved through substantial Dutch support for the Global Financing Facility, which aligns with the Dutch Government’s focus on vulnerable people and communities, such as women and girls.

4. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support

Social determinants have a direct influence on the prevalence and severity of mental disorders. The global burden of these disorders is unlikely to be relieved by improved access to mental health treatments alone. There has to be a strong link between Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) to deal with huge unmet needs in individuals and communities, particularly settings affected by war and conflict. Cordaid focuses on such contexts and addresses individual and collective trauma. Health workers and social workers provide diagnosis and treatment, while community outreach workers are trained and support groups formed for follow-up support and re-integration.

Other themes we focus on:  

Global health security 
Health crises and epidemics occur frequently in fragile countries.  Cordaid supports robust health systems by training health planners to be prepared for outbreaks and sudden demands for health personnel and supplies. 

Health and climate change 
Climate change has an impact on health outcomes, particularly those of populations in fragile countries.  Evidence on climate-sensitive diseases and epidemics such as malnutrition, dengue and malaria will have special attention in advocacy efforts. 

Data-driven decisions 
Our data-driven projects contribute to more transparency and accountability. Data analysis allows for constant monitoring of projects, for flexibility and more cost-effective and strategic allocation of resources. Strengthened data analytics informs better policies and practices leading to improved availability, accessibility, and quality health services, of which our partners and the population served stand to benefit.

A young woman is getting a postnatal check-up in a Cordaid-supported health centre in Jimma, Ethiopia. After successfully strengthening the health system in the Borana region with performance-based financing, Cordaid expanded its PBF health program to Jimma in 2019. Image: Cordaid/Frank van Lierde

4.8 million people had increased access to quality SRHR services with our support in 2020
4.4 million people were tested for HIV in 2020
300 health care workers were trained in 2020

Health care Services

Thematic expertise

Cordaid offers specific thematic expertise and knowledge sharing & thought leadership related to its main areas of operation: Health Systems Strengthening / Results Based Financing, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, addressing Non-Communicable Diseases and promoting data-driven decision making with a focus on fragile conflict and violence-affected settings (FCVAS). 

Technical assistance includes capacity building assistance, providing trainings and workshops, including manuals and training tools, programme design, action research, stakeholder analysis, quality control, evaluation and advocacy in aforementioned fields of operation. Technical assistance can be provided tailor-made within Cordaid programmes or stand-alone, sourced from Cordaid’s country offices or the head office. 

Cordaid also contributes to advocacy which is geared towards influencing policy and practice at various levels, from international fora to local community settings. Advocacy often – and ideally – complements programme implementation, e.g. in the Jeune S3 programme, but also has its own merit, e.g. in the Strategic Partnership for Lobby & Advocacy called “Dialogue and Dissent” (both these programmes are funded by the Dutch Ministry of Development Cooperation).

Fréderique van Drumpt

Operational Manager Programme Unit

Programme and grant management

Programme implementation: Cordaid develops, implements, monitors and evaluates health programmes in 13 countries in Africa and Asia with own staff (country office-based), and/or in close cooperation with local stakeholders such as local governments, NGO’s, CBOs, health care facilities and communities.

Grant management: Cordaid is an experienced manager of funds from (bilateral, multilateral and other) institutional donors in favor of local governmental and civil society organizations, that aim to contribute to Universal Health Coverage. Cordaid uses its knowledge and competences in countries of operation to improve cost-effective health services delivery.

Capacity building: Cordaid increases the capacity of (mainly) Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the countries in which Cordaid operates. CSOs are capacitated to perform their key roles in providing available, affordable and quality health services more effectively and are better equipped to amplify their voices in policy processes.