Global Health Policy

This is a joint post with Heather Lanthorn.

The Global Fund Board’s decision over the Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria (AMFm) rapidly approaches, and tensions within the malaria community are acute. In her global health blog for The Guardian, Sarah Boseley characterizes the rift as one of

“huge arguments and intense passions…[because] it is about the belief on one side that the private sector is the most effective way to get medicines to those who need them – and the certainty on the other side that bolstering the public sector to diagnose and treat people is a fairer and safer way to go. These are not just practical matters, but highly political.”

Tomorrow is apparently the official release date of a Lancet article you may already have read. Christopher Murray (the corresponding author) and his colleagues have assembled a detailed and comprehensive data set on "development assistance for health" (DAH). This data set, released last year, is an achievement in itself.

This is a joint post with David Goldsbrough.

As the possibility of a one trillion dollar supplement in IMF funding comes closer to fruition in the midst of alerts about the possibility of a new pandemic of influenza, some of us at CGD have been asked about the possibility of connections between IMF adjustment programs and health. Some of the questions are a bit loopy, like: Did the IMF cause the current flu epidemic? And even weirder: should the IMF prevent future flu epidemics?

With Ruth Levine.

The High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems met week before last in London. To their great credit, they’ve posted draft reports from their two Working Groups so interested observers can see the where they’re going. Working Group 1 seeks to identify the health systems-related constraints to achieving global health goals, and presents estimates of costs of achieving priority goals (e.g. targeted reductions in maternal and child health). Working Group 2 (WG2) aims to identify new sources of funding and lay out the best options for channeling the funding to countries to improve health system performance. Further work and consultation is pending over the next three months, and then the Taskforce will provide their suggestions to the G8 for consideration at the July Summit in Italy.