“Governments in poor countries will increasingly see a portion of the aid they receive based on the proven outcome of donor-funded health projects, under a drive for improved accountability coordinated by the World Bank,” the Financial Times reports. “Norway, the U.K. and other industrialized countries met in Oslo on Wednesday to discuss doubling an existing $500 million trust fund for ‘results-based financing for health’ that has already supported similar projects over the past six years in 31 countries,” the newspaper notes. “Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, said in a statement: ‘Evidence shows that results-based financing has a significant impact — saving lives and expanding access to quality, essential health services for the poorest women and children in developing countries,'” according to the newspaper (Jack, 12/12).

In a joint press release, Norway, the U.K., the World Bank Group, UNICEF, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the GAVI Alliance stated, “Results-Based Financing for Health, or RBF, pays providers or recipients of health services after pre-agreed results have been achieved and independently verified” and “assures donors that their funds are being used as intended and producing the desired results.” According to the press release, “[T]he Health Results Innovation Trust Fund [HRITF], managed by the World Bank, is supporting 36 RBF programs in 31 countries … About 75 percent of HRITF funding supports programs in sub-Saharan Africa, which bears over half the global burden of maternal mortality” (12/11).