Directly or indirectly, health is affected by many different factors, such as food, sufficient basic income, education, environment, peace, gender equality and social equity. Millions of people, however, currently lack these essentials for a healthy life: A fifth of the world population has no access to basic health care, half is deprived of frequently vital medicine and over a billion people cannot obtain clean water.

Free and equitable access to health care, however, is essential for human dignity in life and for overcoming poverty.

Key development factor

Health is seen as a key factor for the sustainable social and economic development of individuals, societies and nations. This is why promoting health and ensuring access to medical care make up basic components of development cooperation.

As part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the international community has pledged to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDGs 4, 5 and 6). Implementing these goals makes an important contribution to overcoming disease, hunger and poverty.

Health in Austrian Development Cooperation

Although health is not a priority sector of Austrian Development Cooperation, it assists selected health projects and programmes in Ethiopia and Nicaragua, for example. All Austrian measures also support the establishment of long-term, viable primary health care, administered by the population itself as far as possible. This means health promotion in a broad sense: food, water supply, education, hygiene, mother/child health and prevention.