ABSTRACT
Many developing countries, including Zimbabwe, will continue to need donor support to augment their own efforts if substantial developments in health are to be made. Unfortunately, the potential impact of donor contributions to health programmes in many of these countries has not been realised. Among the major reasons are:
the different perceptions of priority health problems and how they should be addressed by donor agencies and national health programmes
inadequate coordination and cooperation between donor agencies and national programmes
poor coordination between agencies supporting health programmes resulting in some duplication of activities. It is more a case of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ than one of ‘many hands make light work’.
short-term piecemeal approaches to health programme support, usually for a maximum of five years, when 10–20 years are needed.
