When budget cuts loom and all the issues are big and thorny, one is naturally attracted to the small and overlooked initiatives that might make a difference. I recently discovered the President’s Malaria Initiative’s (PMI) “End-Use Verification Tool”, a short questionnaire being implemented to regularly monitor the availability of malaria diagnostics and medications at the health facility level in PMI focus countries.
UNAIDS, WHO, PEPFAR and the Global Fund for AIDS TB and Malaria (GFATM) all depend on long-run projections in order to make the case for increased attention and financing for AIDS. This dependency is a response to the reality that HIV is a slow epidemic with extraordinary “momentum”. Even small changes in the course of new infections require years to implement and have health and fiscal consequences for decades thereafter. According to the UNAIDS web site, “[s]ince 2001, the UNAIDS Secretariat have le
In announcing a $10 billion, decade-long commitment for vaccine development and immunization in poor countries, Bill Gates made no claims that the vaccine financing challenges are solved. Quite the contrary. He and many others have highlighted the need for other donors, industry and developing country governments to up their own ante to immunization.
When business expertise combines with an opportunity to contribute to a social mission, the results can be remarkable. Let me share one powerful example.
In honor of World Malaria Day tomorrow, AEI research fellow Roger Bate has issued a new policy brief and related magazine feature decrying the state of global demand forecasting for artemisinin-based cominbation therapies (ACTs):
A paper by Gorik Ooms of Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium and co-authors introduces a new metaphor to the discussion of policy towards developing country health systems: "diagonalization." This word adds a useful image to the still unresolved and increasingly sterile debate between advocates of "vertical" and "horizontal" health programs.
The market for artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) for malaria is notoriously complicated, and has received a great deal of recent attention as the subject of the proposed Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria.
The market for artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) for malaria is notoriously complicated, and has received a great deal of recent attention as the subject of the proposed Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria.
In the "olden days" before the turn of the 21st century, immunization was not exactly headline-grabbing. Fascinating science, yes. One of the fundamental ways to keep children healthy, yes. But the object of intense business strategy-making, a key part of the fight against sexually-transmitted disease, and the focus of glamorous gatherings of the philanthropic elite - not so much. A few recent news items suggest that it's a whole new world. For example:
You can't understand immunization in the developing world if you don't understand what's happening in India. On the demand side, you've got a population of more than one billion and a vaccine market of more than $300 million sales each year. With its significant economic growth and continued population growth, the potential market will only grow.