Abstract
In Lao PDR, while most of the projects used to be implemented as so-called "vertical programs", the Public-Private Partnership, such as Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative(GAVI) and Global Fund(GF), has recently been introduced in the health sector. As a condition for their introduction, a coordination mechanism was established. In reality, however, the function of its mechanism is limited within its program only. In the centralized country, like Lao PDR, with limited management ability and nontransparent finance, the implementation of this mechanism is actually far from easy. While Japan has been the top donor country of Lao PDR, the cooperation strategy of Japan, mainly project-scheme, were not always appropriate for the coordination mechanism.
In 2002, the Health Sector Master Plan (MP) was developed by the JICA Development Study and the National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy (NGPES) was also launched in 2003. In addition to these two policies, Lao PDR also has Health Strategy 2020 and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The contents of these policies are apparently very similar, though attempts have never been made to consolidate these overlapping policies and none of them has been implemented yet.
In order to solve the above problems, it is essential to establish the coordination within the Ministry of Health as well as among donor agencies. For which, the Donor Coordinating Meeting and the Technical Working Group Meeting started in 2004. Now, the role of Japan is to assist the Lao government to implement the policies/strategies. In the context of Partnership, it is important to clarify the prioritized Japanese aid strategy and to enhance the coordination mechanism, which should be the main role of health policy advisor. For the effective implementation, some activities of the health policy advisor are incorporated into the newly proposed project of the capacity building for the sector wide coordination.
