Health GAP and allies call for IMF policy reform

The financial turmoil that originated in the United States a year ago has become a global financial crisis widely believed to be the most severe since the Great Depression. The foundations of financial markets – previously thought of as almost invincible – have collapsed, plunging the world into a recession that is severely impacting emerging market countries whose financial markets are inextricably tied to those in the West, as well as low-income countries who are already suffering the impacts of higher food and oil prices. In the wake of the current global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is signing new multi-billion dollar loan deals across both developed and developing countries. With an almost sudden force, it has emerged out of the “irrelevance” it was accused of in recent years and has reacted by positioning itself as the “financial firefighter” for a diverse range of countries teetering on the brink of financial meltdown. After having been portrayed as obsolete in a new world economy defined by the economic muscle of emerging markets, the IMF is now being heralded by media headlines that read: “The IMF is back in business” and “The Fund is back in town.”

U.S. civil society organizations that work on international development, HIV/AIDS, global health and labor rights issues agree that there must be a fundamental change in the content and application of the IMF's policy conditionalities and policy advice. We call for structural policy changes to eliminate IMF-mediated macroeconomic targets that negatively impact long-term national development and growth, and to reduce the scope of the Fund's policy prescriptions so that it does not venture beyond its institutional mandate. We also call for debt cancellation and the adoption of international best practices in governance, transparency and inclusivity. | more

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Brook K. Baker, The Impact of the International Monetary Fund’s Macroeconomic Policies on the AIDS Pandemic, 40 Int’l J. Health Services 347-363 (2010) | Download PDF

Professor Baker's letter to The Lancet: Effect of development assistance on domestic health expenditures | more

Board co-chair Brook Baker's discussion paper on international financing for health | more

Press Release: Anti-poverty groups raise concern about G20 commitment of funds to IMF | more

Press Release: 200+ Global Groups Demand IMF Policy Reform in Developing Countries Before Addressing Its Own Financial Crisis | more

The Budget Ceiling: Why Countries Can’t Adequately Invest in Health Care and Education | download PDF

Background on the link between the IMF and AIDS | download doc

How the IMF restricts health sector spending | download ppt

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