ODA Spending

How much ODA does Australia allocate to global health?

Australia was the 11^th-largest OECD DAC donor to global health in 2023. Australia was 6^th-largest among DAC donors in terms of its prioritization of global health; ODA to this sector represented 13.3% percent of its total ODA spending, a decrease from 2022.

How is Australian global health ODA changing?

The FY2023/24 budget dropped regional health spending by almost half from the high levels committed to the COVID-19 response in the previous year's budget. Ongoing commitments have been made for regional health initiatives over 5 years that extend into other communicable and non-communicable diseases and reproductive health.

In the 2025/26 budget, the government allocated a further AUD81 million ( US$53 million) over three years to a regional health resilience package. This builds on the existing AUD620 million ( US$408 million) Partnerships for a Healthy Region Initiative. The package will assist regional nations to prevent and respond to tuberculosis, HIV, maternal and child health, family planning, and sexual and reproductive health.

How does Australia allocate global health ODA?

Bilateral Spending

In 2022, 'Health policy and administrative management' overtook 'COVID-19 control' for the first time since 2018, in line with Australia's focus on LMICs in the Indo-Pacific Region.

Multilateral Spending and Commitments

Australian ODA to global health agencies fell from AUD194 million ( US$128 million) to AUD156 million ( US$103 million) in 2025/26. This was a temporary adjustment to direct more funding to regional and bilateral health programs, in part due to reduced health spending by the US. The reduction was primarily due to deferring the anticipated Global Fund payment for 2025/26.

Funding and Policy Outlook

What is the current government's outlook on global health ODA?

The Australian government recognizes the importance of global health funds. Australia has been a consistent contributor to GFATM, Gavi, and GPEI.

Key investments will be in vaccination, WASH, and SRH: Australia is committed to investing in WASH projects and ensuring adequate provision of SRH services during the pandemic, including through UNFPA, to which it contributed US$41 million in non-core funding in 2021. Australia committed AUD$56.8 million (US$37 million) in November 2024 to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights in Southeast Asia, including working towards eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.

Establishment of an Australian Centre For Disease Control: In May 2023, the Australian government allocated AUD91 million ( US$61 million) in its FY2022/23 budget to establish an Australian Centre for Disease Control. Officials stated that the initial focus of the Australian Centre For Disease Control will be on infectious diseases, consolidating health data in Australia, and chronic diseases. An interim center was launched on March 1, 2024, within the Department of Health and Aged Care in Canberra. The Centre is not ODA funded and is domestically focused for its initial phase.

The Pacific and Southeast Asia are likely to remain Australia’s priority regions for global health assistance: In the past, Australia has prioritized tackling drug-resistant malaria and tuberculosis in these regions.

In February 2023, the government announced AUD620 million ( US$430 million) would be provided over five years to invest in the region’s health partnerships. This Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative will deal with infectious diseases, improve the treatment and detection of noncommunicable diseases, and support mental health improvements in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. It will also provide further funding for product development partnerships.

Most of the funding will be dedicated to communicable diseases, with programs to assist immunization, surveillance, antimicrobial resistance and infection control. Increased funding will also focus on non-communicable diseases. Within the total funding, AUD157 million ( US$109 million) will also be provided for reproductive health and rights programs.

Key Bodies

Info

Global health R&D is also important to addressing many of the global health challenges that disproportionately affect the world’s most disadvantaged people. For more information on how donor countries are supporting global health R&D across three main areas — 1) EIDs; 2) PRNDs; and 3) SRH — read the excellent G-Finder reports and explore the interactive data portal created by Policy Cures Research. Not all funding mentioned in these analyses qualifies as ODA.