EU-funded health projects abroad lack impact, report says

European Union health initiatives in countries of the global south lack effectiveness despite multi-billion euro funding, said a report by the EU's budget watchdog published Wednesday.

The European Commission manages different health projects in partner countries with a budget of over €8 billion ($8.8 billion) from 2007 until 2027.

Members of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), who inspected project sites in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Zimbabwe, criticized poor analyses of needs, inadequate distribution of medicine and equipment, and high management costs.

The inspected projects focused on the provision of free health case, organising the training of health professionals and the reconstruction of health centres, the ECA said.

The shortcomings "sometimes resulted in empty shelves in clinics" as medicines, vaccines and other essential items were out of stock.

Donated equipment was not always well maintained due to ancillary costs or poor equipment choices, a press release said.

Cost-intensive cascading management structures "ultimately reduced the amounts available for final beneficiaries," the ECA said.

In some case, management costs were nearly twice as high as the amount allocated to health services, the auditors criticized.

The report also deplored that projects did not have strategies in place to keep them running long-term without EU funding.