International Funding for Global Common Goods for Health: An Analysis Using the Creditor Reporting System and G-FINDER Databases

Self Cite

Global functions" of health cooperation refer to those activities that go beyond the boundaries of individual nations to address transnational issues. This paper begins by presenting a taxonomy of global functions and laying out the key value propositions of investing in such functions. Next, it examines the current funding flows to global functions and the estimated price tag, which is large. Given that existing financing mechanisms have not closed the gap, it then proposes a suite of options for directing additional funding to global functions and discusses the governance of this additional funding. These options are organized into resource mobilization mechanisms, pooling approaches, and strategic purchasing of global functions. Given its legitimacy, convening power, and role in setting global norms and standards, the World Health Organization (WHO) is uniquely placed among global health organizations to provide the overarching governance of global functions. Therefore, the paper includes an assessment of WHO's financial situation. Finally, the paper concludes with reflections on the future of aid for health and its role in supporting global functions. The concluding section also summarizes a set of key priorities in financing global functions for health. INTRODUCTION: THE PRICE TAG FOR CRITICAL GLOBAL FUNCTIONS On December 3, 2013, The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health (CIH) concluded its report, Global Health 2035: A World Converging within a Generation 1 with a "wake-up call" to the international community. The CIH stated: "The global health system as it is presently configured is not directing its financing to functions that need strengthening if we are to achieve dramatic health gains by 2035." 1 The functions or activities that needed strengthening, argued the Keywords: common goods for health, global public goods for health, research and development

Section: How Much Is the World Spending On Global Functions?mentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Financing Global Common Goods for Health: When the World is a Country

Yamey

Jamison

Hanssen

et al. 2019

Self Cite

“…Building off the paper by Yamey and colleagues, Schäferhoff, Chodavadia, Martinez, Kennedy McDade, Fewer, Silva, Jamison, and Yamey present "International Funding for Global Common Goods for Health: An Analysis Using the Creditor Reporting System and G-FINDER Databases." 44 This article estimates expenditure trends in international financing for global CGH between 2013 and 2017 to gauge their prioritization in the global health funding agenda. The time period covers before, during, and after the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.…”

Section: Finding Our Way Back To Basicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Both Markets and Governments Fail Health

Yazbeck

Soucat

2019

This paper presents the rationale and motivation for countries and the global development community to tackle a critical set of functions in the health sector that appear to be under-prioritized and underfunded. The recent eruptions of Ebola outbreaks in Africa and other communicable diseases like Zika and SARS elsewhere led scientific and medical commissions to call for global action. The calls for action motivated the World Health Organization (WHO) to respond by defining a new construct within the health sector: Common Good for Health (CGH). While the starting point for developing the CGH construct was the re-emergence of communicable diseases, it extends to additional outcomes resulting from failures to act and finance within and outside the health sector. This paper summarizes global evidence on failures to address CGHs effectively, identifies potential reasons for the public and private sectors' failures to respond, and lays out the first phase of the WHO program as represented by the papers in this special issue of Health Systems & Reform. OBJECTIVE AND MOTIVATION FOR THIS SPECIAL ISSUEThe last 20 years have seen amazing improvements in health indicators globally. Global attention directed to health has been impressive and resources have been expanding at unprecedented rates. External spending on health grew fivefold since 2000, reaching about $20 billion USD in 2015 1 and health sector resources go beyond external funds. We have known for years that OECD countries, especially the wealthiest, have spending rates that grow faster than economic growth. 2 A recent publication from the World Health Organization (WHO) using global data on health expenditures shows that this expansion is not unique to high-income countries. Between 2000 and 2016, global spending on health has increased at 4% per annum, while the global economy grew at 2.8%. Health spending growth has in fact been even more rapid in low-and middle-income countries -at 6% per year, it amounted to $1.6 trillion USD in 2016. 1

“…The first articles in this series discuss the "what," defining CGH and providing the conceptual foundation for the definition. 4,6 Subsequent papers focus on how to finance and provide CGH, 5,7,8 with focused discussions on health emergency and disaster risk management 9 and on environmental issues. 10 Commentaries and case examples highlight some challenges to financing CGH, but also present effective approaches that have been taken to prioritizing financing for CGH.…”

Section: Developing the Case For Cghmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yamey et al 5 consider CGH that require financing and action at the global level, including sustainable global mechanisms and targeted resource mobilization efforts, pooled funding, and strategic purchasing. Schäferhoff et al 8 provide empirical evidence by tracking expenditures to global CGH in recent years. Their analysis shows that increases in funding following the Ebola crisis have already begun to show a decreasing trend.…”

Section: Developing the Case For Cghmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financing Common Goods for Health: Fundamental for Health, the Foundation for UHC

Soucat

2019

World Health Organization (WHO), presents a comprehensive argument that "common goods for health" are a priority for action on the road to Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Its publication is juxtaposed with the September 2019 United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on UHC, an event that represents the global community's commitment to UHC. This special issue proposes a key approach to moving the UHC agenda forward: financing the common goods that form the foundation of health globally. The world faces formidable, often paradoxical, challengespopulation growth and aging, increasing wealth and widening inequities, undernutrition among some and obesity among others, and environmental and pandemic threats that seem to emerge in the wake of fast-paced development. 1 In this, the Anthropocene era, the global human community is reaching the limits of our planet's capacities, creating a need for all people to become aware, actively engage, and come together to collectively demand action and change from our leaders. 2 Hundreds of millions, maybe even billions, of our lives are at stake. In recent decades, overall health outcomes have been improving and spending on health has increased substantially. However, blind spots persist, and these pose substantial risks to human health and economic well-being; indeed, they have the potential to undo recent progress. 3 These blind spots include: systems unable to effectively respond to pandemics such as influenza and outbreaks of communicable diseases like Ebola and Zika; health system structures unfit to cope with the rapidly increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like type 2 diabetes; threats posed by the emergence of drugresistant tuberculosis and other evolving diseases; and the complex health impacts of large population movements, environmental degradation and climate change. Two features are common to all these challenges-they have an enormous impact on human health and welfare, and combating them effectively requires governments to