A/67/302 to collect taxes from businesses in the informal sector, contingent upon the provision of State services and other benefits associated with being a taxable entity. 2. International funding 22. Under the right to health, States have an obligation to cooperate internationally towards ensuring the availability of sustainable international funding for health. International assistance is among the main sources of funding for health in many developing States. Many of these States lack sufficient health funds and resources to meet domestic health needs and thus depend heavily upon international assistance. Moreover, given the level and rate of development in some low-income States, they will be unable to raise adequate funds domestically to meet domestic health needs in the near future. Realization of the right to health in the developing world is thus also dependent upon the availability of sustainable international funding for health, which should ultimately be realized through an obligatory, treaty-based regime founded upon the principle of global solidarity. 23. Existing international funding practices present a number of problems. Donor States, multilateral donor institutions, international financial institutions and other funders continue to engage in practices that undermine full realization of the right to health. In many instances, funders fail to focus their activities on the health needs of recipient States and direct assistance towards health systems development, inadequately incorporate the inputs of affected communities in their activities, and attach conditionalities to the receipt of funding for health. 24. International funders should ensure that their activities respect the right to health. The activities of funders should therefore be directed towards meeting domestic health needs and promoting the development of self-sustaining interventions and health systems. Towards that end, donors should incorporate the participation of civil society and affected communities in their activities in order to ensure health interventions are responsive and sustainable and in accordance with the right to health. Donors should also abstain from attaching pernicious conditionalities to the receipt of international assistance. 25. International donors tend to focus on short-term interventions addressing specific health issues without adequate focus on strengthening health systems. 19 In some States, this has resulted in an overdependence on international funding and the underdevelopment of domestic health systems, many of which are incapable of meeting even basic health needs in the absence of international assistance. Moreover, States that have become overdependent on international funding for health may be less likely to prioritize health in their budgets, which is critical to the long-term sustainability of domestic health systems. 26. Many low-income States lack adequate funds and resources for health in absolute terms. Other States may at times face severe resource shortfalls that require international funding to resolve. However, in many cases, even low-income States may mobilize funds beyond those currently allocated for health through budget prioritization. Moreover, some States possess sufficient resources but have simply failed to mobilize and allocate adequate funds for health equitably. While the right to health approach requires States to cooperate internationally towards ensuring the __________________ 19 10 P. Prakongsai et al., “Can earmarking mobilize and sustain resources to the health sector?”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 86, No. 11 (Geneva, November 2008), p. 898. 12-46101