통일대비 대북 ODA 사업현황: 북한 보건의료분야 ODA 지원 현황을 중심으로

Abstract

This study aims to overview and examine the recent trends of development assistance in the healthcare sector for North Korea, by the channel and type of aid (such as the Korean government, other public and private organizations, international agencies, and other foreign aid donors), in order to provide insights for the future direction for the healthcare aid for North Korea. To identify the amount of the healthcare sector aid provided to North Korea, a comprehensive database was constructed by compiling ODA data from the OECD CRS, Korean NGO’s reports, Korea EXIM bank reports and unification white paper from the Ministry of Unification. A total of 562 projects were identified for the period between January 1995 and July 2018, and were analyzed. The results shows that the number of aid projects of national private organizations was 84 accounting for 14.9% of the total of the healthcare sector aid for North Korea. Provision of medicines and medical devices was the largest part of the aid. The results also indicate that, in case of the national public organizations, the aid on supporting medical devices and equipment accounts for 45.5%. International NGOs and international organizations mainly carried out ODA projects on healthcare for North Korea as donors. The main aid areas were strengthening health workforce capacity through work-based training, improving health care system, and healthcare policy. However, the amount of aid to North Korea has been affected by inter-Korean relations and global political situations since 1995. Overall, our study suggests that, for providing sustainable development assistance to North Korea, the following activities are warranted: first, increase of financial and technical support for healthcare policy and training health workforce in North Korea, second, constructing comprehensive plan for the healthcare system development through building cooperative network between Korean government and the North Korean government; and lastly, strengthening Korean government’s capacity as a facilitator between the international organizations, the North Korean government, the domestic and international NGOs.