Application to Health

CGD and external researchers are investigating applications of COD Aid in the health sector to help achieve goals such as improving maternal health, reducing child mortality, and preventing HIV/AIDS. The following papers offer proposals for these applications of a COD Aid approach.

Cash On Delivery Aid for Health: What Indicators Would Work Best?
This paper from William Savedoff and Katie Douglas Martel assesses the challenges of applying COD Aid in the health sector. After clarifying how COD Aid differs from results-based financing approaches, the paper presents four key characteristics for designing a successful agreement. It discusses features of the health sector and foreign aid flows to health that need to be considered when designing a successful COD Aid agreement for this sector. The paper then presents 10 indicators associated with the Millennium Development Goals aimed at reducing child mortality, maternal mortality, and the prevalence of malaria and HIV/AIDs.

The Health Systems Funding Platform: Resolving Tensions between the Aid and Development Effectiveness Agendas
The Health Systems Funding Platform is one of the most recent of these initiatives. Established in 2009, it has advanced farthest in two countries, Ethiopia and Nepal, and is currently expanding to several others. This paper from William Savedoff and Amanda Glassman briefly assesses the Platform and argues that the way the initiative is proceeding differs little from prior initiatives, such as sector wide approaches and budget support. However, the initiative does represent an opportunity to make global health aid more effective if it were to deepen its commitment to improving information for policy, link funding explicitly to well-chosen independently verified indicators, and establish an evaluation strategy to learn from its experience.

How to Pay “Cash on Delivery” for HIV Infections Averted: Two Measurement Approaches and Ten Payout Functions
In this CGD Working Paper, Mead Over and co-author Tim Hallett offer a proposal for how COD Aid can be used to help countries achieve measurable reductions in the rate of new HIV infections.

Using Incentives to Prevent HIV Infections
In the second of a series of three CGD essays, Mead Over discusses how the right incentives can help aid agencies and recipient country governments achieve success in HIV/AIDS prevention, and improve the measurement of these achievements. Mead discusses how COD Aid can be applied to HIV prevention as an approach that strengthens incentives for improved outcomes.