Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 131
5
Increase U.S. Financial
Commitments to Global Health
FINANCE THE GLOBAL HEALTH FUNDING GAP
A financing gap contributes to the difficulties that low- and middle-income
countries face in addressing the health needs of their populations. New threats
such as pandemics and chronic diseases have altered the disease burden of these
countries, even as the financial crisis has weakened their economies further.
External assistance from donors will be essential if low-income countries are to
reach the globally recognized Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and if
the global community is to address the emerging challenges of the twenty-first
century.
Basic Health Needs of the Global Poor
The global community uses one of two benchmarks to quantify the basic
health needs of poor countries: (1) the cost of scaling up to meet the health-related
MDGs, estimated at $20 billion to $70 billion annually (Wagstaff et al., 2006)
or (2) the price estimate of $34 per capita per year for an essential health benefit
package, as assessed by the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Commission
on Macroeconomics and Health (WHO, 2001). While low-income countries
bear a large portion of the total disease burden, they contribute only 2 percent
of worldwide health spending ($7 billion annually or 5.3 percent of their gross
domestic product [GDP]) (Gottret and Schieber, 2006).
Low-income country revenues amount to only 18 percent of their GDP
(compared to 32 percent in high-income countries), severely limiting their ability
to finance essential health services (Gottret and Schieber, 2006). For a country
OCR for page 132
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
such as Burundi, with a GDP per capita of $341 (World Bank, 2007a, 2007b),
revenues are expected to deliver $61 per capita to spend on all public needs such
as education, health, and infrastructure. If $34 of this were spent on the essential
health benefit package as prescribed by WHO, more than half of government
revenue would be consumed by basic health services alone.
To meet their basic health needs, low-income countries have been asked to
raise an additional 1 to 4 percent of GDP in public revenue (UN Millennium
Project, 2006; WHO, 2001). The committee supports the call for increased health
spending by low-income countries, but recognizes that revenue performance over
the past few years has been disappointing and even stagnant in some regions
(Gupta et al., 2004).
Increasing spending for public health is made especially challenging by
the global economic recession. Countries relying on revenue from commodity
exports and foreign direct investment will need external assistance and conces -
sional borrowing as export prices plummet and foreign direct investment dries up.
With governments unable to maintain critical expenditures on social safety nets,
human development, and critical infrastructure, the plight of the poor in low- and
middle-income countries is set to worsen. Falling employment and wages further
impede households’ ability to pay for essential food and health services (see
Box 5-1) (World Bank, 2009b).
Without substantial economic development and debt relief, it will be dif-
ficult for low-income countries to scale up health spending on their own, at least
in the immediate future. Even if low-income countries were able to mobilize an
additional 1 to 2 percent of their GDP to finance health, it would amount to only
$12 billion to $24 billion, which is insufficient to meet the MDG funding gap.
Likewise, if the aim were to deliver the $34 per year benefit package, low-income
countries would need to increase their health spending by more than 40 percent,
which is an unlikely prospect (Schieber et al., 2007). Low-income countries will
clearly not be able to make significant progress in delivering basic health provi -
sions to their populations without external assistance (Gottret and Schieber, 2006;
UN Millennium Project, 2005; WHO, 2001).
Finance the Global Health Funding Gap
If low-income countries are to move closer to meeting the MDGs and
delivering essential health services, foreign assistance for health from advanced
economies will have to increase and be sustained over the coming decade. These
countries already depend greatly on external assistance to fund health program -
ming. In some 30 African countries, 30 percent of health spending comes from
donors and international nongovernmental organizations (Gottret and Schieber,
2006); in Rwanda’s 2008 work plan, this figure was as high as 83 percent and is
expected to remain above 67 percent until 2020 (WHO et al., 2008).
OCR for page 133
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
BOX 5-1
Health and Poverty During Economic Downturns
Mobilizing financing for the health sector is especially crucial during economic
downturns and subsequently lowered household earnings. The poor in low-income
countries are most affected at such times because they pay a large portion of their
health care costs out-of-pocket, without the benefit of social safety nets (Gottret
and Schieber, 2006; Hopkins, 2006). The health of a country’s population thus
significantly worsens during a downturn due to reduced access to health care
(Hopkins, 2006; Pongou et al., 2006; Waters et al., 2003) and poor nutrition.
The current global economic crisis is dramatically increasing the number of
people trapped in poverty in low-income countries. New estimates for 2009 sug-
gest that 46 million more people will be living on less than $1.25 a day than was
expected prior to the crisis. An extra 53 million will be trapped on less than $2 a
day. This is in addition to the 130 million to 155 million people already pushed into
poverty in 2008 because of soaring food and fuel prices (World Bank, 2009a).
These new forecasts highlight the serious threat to achieving the MDGs by
2015. Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the regions hit hardest by rising food prices,
could be further affected if foreign direct investment and aid flows now decline
(World Bank, 2008). New research shows that child mortality rates are set to soar
if the crisis persists, with preliminary estimates for 2009 to 2015 suggesting an
average of 200,000 to 400,000 more child deaths a year (amounting to a total of
1.4 million to 2.8 million deaths) (World Bank, 2009a). Some hard-won advances
of the past few years in poverty reduction and health could thus unravel.
In today’s market crisis, the financial policies and practices of the high-income
nations, including the United States, are seen as the cause of painful economic
spillovers in low- and middle-income countries. It is therefore crucial for the rep-
utation of the United States that the nation live up to its humanitarian responsi-
bilities, despite current pressures on the U.S. economy, and assist low-income
countries in safeguarding the health of their poorest members. It is equally impor-
tant that the entire global community uphold its commitments and remain focused
on the MDGs (UN, 2008).
For low-income countries to see significant improvements in health, large
grants from external donors will have to be sustained for long periods. A study
in Ethiopia and Tanzania found that a doubling of aid as a percentage of GDP
would require grant financing for 20 years before these grants could be replaced
by additional tax revenue under reasonable assumptions of increased domestic
growth (Foster et al., 2003; Gottret and Schieber, 2006). The level of investment
needed to deliver individual-level and population-based care, to build institutions
and systems, and to conduct health research will require both significant and sus -
tained investment by bilateral and multilateral agencies and greater exploration
of innovative financing models.
OCR for page 134
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
Increase U.S. Commitments to Achieve Health-Related MDGs
In 2002, the United Nations (UN) Millennium Project estimated that total
overseas development assistance (ODA) volumes would need to rise to 0.54
percent of high-income country gross national income (GNI) by 2015 if low-
and middle-income countries were to meet the MDGs (UN Millennium Project,
2006). Although global ODA directed to health has increased significantly, from
4.6 percent of total ODA in 1990 (Schieber et al., 2006) to 16 percent in 2006
(OECD, 2008a), the overall level of ODA commitment is still too low to meet
the MDG funding needs of low- and middle-income countries.
Over the last 10 years, U.S. ODA has grown from $8.8 billion to $26 billion
(a 196 percent increase) (OECD, 2009). Between 2001 and 2008, U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) and State Department global health
programming grew by nearly 350 percent. As a result, health now makes up a
larger portion of both the U.S. foreign affairs and the overall ODA budgets. In
2006, health aid comprised 23 percent of U.S. allocable aid; this is more than the
average proportion of spending on health aid by other advanced economies (see
Figure 5-1) (OECD, 2008b).
President Obama announced the U.S. government Global Health Initiative in
May 2009 and requested that Congress support $63 billion in spending on global
health between 2009 and 2014; this is an average of $10.5 billion per year over
the next six years. Under the initiative, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS
40%
36 %
33 %
32 %
30% U.S.
% of Donor Total
23 %
21%
20% 19 %
18 %
17% Averag e (16%)
15% 15%
14%
13 %
11% 11%
10 % 10% 10 %
10%
7% 7%
5% 5%
3%
0%
xe dom
n
n
a
ly
Ze l i a
g
Fi ia
C ce
ce
N ust s
es
he m
k
nd
Sw ay
en d
Be en
Po n y
d
itz al
d
pa
A nd
ai
ad
te our
ar
an
Ita
an
r
d lan
iu
ew ra
Sw rtug
an
e
at
la
w
st
a
Sp
ed
m
Ja
rla
an
re
lg
Lu ing
m
al
or
nl
St
Au
er
U mb
n i Ir e
Fr
G
er
N
K
d
D
G
et
te
ni
N
U
FIGURE 5-1 Allocable aid for health 5xf.eps
(2006).
SOURCE: Committee’s calculations based on OECD, 2008b.
OCR for page 135
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
Relief (PEPFAR) would receive $51 billion over six years. The proposal calls
for an increase in funding from $8.186 billion in 2009 to $8.645 billion in 2010
(White House, 2009).
The committee commends the recent increases in spending on global health
but finds that an even greater commitment by the U.S. government is required
to demonstrate leadership in both global health and global economic and human
development. Despite dramatic increases in spending for global health—and
in the proportion of ODA allocated to health—over the past decade, the U.S.
commitment to overall ODA has been below the efforts of other high-income
countries in relative terms. So even though the United States was the largest aid
donor in absolute dollars ($26 billion) in 2008, it has one of the lowest levels
of net ODA as a percentage of GNI: 0.18 percent (see Figure 5-2). This is well
below the UN target of 0.54 percent and the Development Assistance Committee
average of 0.45 percent.
Even when private giving is included, the United States does not come close
to the level of most other high-income countries’ ODA. The U.S. government
contributes only 25 cents per day per person, with an additional 10 cents per day
being given by private U.S. donors. Sweden and Denmark, by comparison, give
$1.00 and $1.07 per day per person, respectively, in public aid alone (Roodman,
2007).
If the U.S. government is to meet its obligations to support all of the MDGs,
it will need to reach the UN target of 0.54 percent of GNI and commit to spending
0.98
1.0
0.92
0.9 0.88
0.82
0.80
0.8
0.7
0.58
0.6
Millennium Development Goals ( 0.54)
As % of GNI
0.47
0.5 Averag e Countr y Ef fort ( 0.47)
0.43 0.43 0.43
0.42 0.41
0.39 0.38
0.4 U.S.
0.34
0.32
0.30
0. 27
0.3
0. 20 0. 20
0.18 0.18
0. 2
0.1
0.0
en
g
ay
k
Ir e s
Be nd
Fi m
d
n
m
i t z t r ia
Fr d
er e
y
C lia
Ze d a
Po d
G al
e
ly
St n
es
an
ar
nd
ai
te p a
ur
n
an
c
an
ec
Ita
g
iu
do
ra
w
at
an
la
ew a n a
ed
la
Sp
r tu
m
Sw us
bo
m
lg
rla
re
ni Ja
nl
al
or
er
st
ng
Sw
en
A
m
N
Au
he
Ki
d
G
D
xe
et
d
Lu
N
te
N
U
ni
U
FIGURE 5-2 Net official development assistance (2008).
SOURCE: OECD, 2009.
5xg.eps
OCR for page 136
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
approximately $81 billion per year on development assistance by 2012. Given
that three of the eight MDGs are directly related to health (Goals 3, 4, and 5), a
portion of any increase in development assistance should be allocated for health
programs and research activities. Within this greater commitment to foreign
assistance, the committee recommends that the U.S. government investment in
global health match the average proportion of ODA for health (16 percent in
2006) for countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).
By 2012, the President and Congress should commit to spending a minimum
of $13 billion annually on development assistance for health in support of the
health-related MDGs. (This number is the product of the UN goal of 0.54 percent
of GNI; the estimated GNI for the United States in 2012 [$15 trillion]; and the
average proportion of ODA for health [16 percent] in OECD countries in 2006.)
This level of spending, although still below the capacity of the United States and
the overall resources needed for health, is justified on the basis of international
norms and commitments.1
Balance the Traditional Portfolio of U.S. Investments in Global Health
Increased finances would provide an opportunity to balance the portfolio of
U.S. government investments in global health to reflect the breadth of the health-
related MDGs. Allocations over the last eight years have been heavily skewed in
favor of HIV/AIDS, which received more than 70 percent of USAID and State
Department global health funds in 2008 (Salaam-Blyther, 2008). Between 2004
and 2008, projects to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria received
$19.7 billion, far outpacing support for other health programs. This dramatic
increase was a result of new commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria (the Global Fund) and PEPFAR. During the same
period, USAID programs for children and women’s health received only $4.6
billion, representing little or no increase in real terms (see Figure 5-3) (Salaam-
Blyther, 2008).
The committee strongly recommends that Congress balance the traditional
portfolio of global health aid while pursuing the goal of $13 billion per year for
the health-related MDGs. The U.S. government should fulfill its implied commit -
ments under PEPFAR reauthorization to global AIDS programs ($7.8 billion per
year), malaria ($1 billion per year), and TB ($800 million per year). The remain -
ing $3.4 billion per year would roughly double current spending levels for pro-
1 Beyond reaching the goal of 0.54 percent of GNI by 2012, it is important to note that in a 1970
General Assembly Resolution, UN Member States declared a minimum target of 0.7 percent of each
economically advanced country’s national income for ODA to developing countries. The 0.7 percent
target was reconfirmed by all countries in the 2002 Monterrey Consensus, of which the United States
was a signatory (UN, 2003).
OCR for page 137
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
8000
7000
6000
5000
US $ (in millions)
40 00
3000
2000
1000
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Year
Maternal and Child Health Family Planning and Reproductive Health
Other Infectious Diseases HIV/AIDS
FIGURE 5-3 State Department Global HIV/AIDS Initiative (GHAI) and USAID spend-
ing on global health (2001-2008).
5xe.eps
SOURCE: Committee’s calculations based on Salaam-Blyther, 2008.
grams in support of health systems strengthening, children and women’s health,
nutrition, family planning and reproductive health, and neglected diseases of
poverty, all of which have been severely underresourced during the past decade.
The U.S. government should also adopt health goals that support the targets
of the health-related MDGs to guide the allocation of the recommended $13 bil-
lion in funds. Expenditures should include the scale-up of proven clinical and
public health interventions and policies to reduce avoidable deaths, as well as
research efforts to explore new technologies and identify improved methods for
delivering existing tools. Where feasible, funding should support multilateral
efforts aimed at addressing the MDGs, such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines
and Immunization, the Safe Motherhood Initiative, and the Global Fund.
OCR for page 138
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
Allocate Additional Funding for Noncommunicable Disease and Injuries
Although the recommended $13 billion per year for global health would
support the health-related MDGs, additional resources will be required to meet
the global burden of disease for the twenty-first century. Even though chronic
diseases account for nearly half of the disease burden in low- and middle-income
countries (Beaglehole et al., 2007), virtually no USAID programs address chronic
or noncommunicable diseases (Greenberg et al., 2005). Injuries, which accounted
for an additional 16 percent of deaths in 2001, also receive little U.S. attention
(Lopez et al., 2006b). When comparing the disease allocations in U.S. govern -
ment global health spending as estimated by the Kaiser Family Foundation for
2008 (Kates et al., 2009) to the top seven causes of death in low- and middle-
income countries for those under age 70 (Lopez et al., 2006a), the lack of atten -
tion to noncommunicable disease and injuries is striking (see Figure 5-4).
Preventive and low-cost treatment measures specially tailored to low-resource
areas can help reduce the burden of chronic disease and injuries (Beaglehole et al.,
2007; Lagarde, 2007), which threatens to overwhelm health systems in these
countries (Adeyi et al., 2007; Norton et al., 2006). Cost-effective strategies—such
as higher tobacco taxes, reduction of salt in processed foods, and the administra -
tion of a multidrug regimen to treat and prevent cardiovascular disease—hold the
promise of averting 32 million premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases
in these countries (Asaria et al., 2007; Lim et al., 2007).
The committee finds that an additional $2 billion to expand the U.S. port-
folio to address noncommunicable disease and injuries would be appropriate.
Federal executive branch agencies and departments—particularly the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
and USAID—should work with Congress to identify specific ways to respond
to the contemporary challenges of noncommunicable disease and injuries. The
U.S. government should adopt clear health goals, such as lowering deaths from
smoking or reducing injuries from domestic violence and accidents, to guide the
allocation of the recommend $2 billion in funds. Expenditures should include the
scale-up of proven interventions and policies to reduce avoidable deaths, as well
as research efforts to translate existing knowledge (often individualized treat -
ment) into population-based interventions that are cost-effective in low-resource
settings with large at-risk populations.
Address PEPFAR and Long-Term AIDS Strategy
Concerns have been raised that PEPFAR commitments have already created
a new global “entitlement” that could prevent an increase in funding for other
initiatives. This entitlement exists in the form of an open-ended commitment
to provide AIDS treatment in countries receiving PEPFAR money that would
be very difficult to halt. (Treatment costs are themselves set to escalate, mainly
OCR for page 139
HIV/AIDS Total = $ 9.6 billion
Injury
8%
13 %
Other Infectious
Other Diseases
Other HIV/AIDS
Noncommunicable 13 %
$1,039 million $4,978 million
Diseases (11%) (52%)
13 % Avian Flu
$115 million
(1%)
Cancer Global Fund
$841 million Water
9%
Malaria
( 9 %) $738 million
Maternal and Child
$495 million
(8 %)
Health and Nutrition (5%)
TB
Family Planning and Repro Health
27%
Cardiovascular
$162 million
$467 million
Maternal and Child Health
Disease (2 %)
(5%)
$806 million
17% (8 %)
FIGURE 5-4 Left: Top seven causes of death below age 70 in low- and middle-income countries (2001). Right: U.S. government funding
for global health by major subsector and for the Global Fund, FY 2008.
SOURCES: Left: Committee’s calculations based on Lopez et al., 2006a. Right: Committee’s calculations based on Kates et al., 2009.
5xh.eps
landscape
OCR for page 140
0 THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
due to three factors: antiretroviral [ARV] drugs have successfully prolonged the
lives of AIDS patients who now require lifelong treatment; new HIV infections
continue to outpace the number of people receiving treatment, due to inadequate
prevention; and many of those on first-line drugs, for which dramatic price reduc-
tions have been attained, will require more costly second-line therapies as they
become resistant to first-line treatments [Over, 2008].)
PEPFAR provided 77 percent of declared external AIDS funding in 2005 to
15 countries and is responsible for the large majority of increases in AIDS fund -
ing since 2004 (Over, 2008). By 2006, PEPFAR money constituted 62 percent of
HIV/AIDS resources in Zambia, 78 percent in Uganda, and 78 percent in Mozam-
bique, 3 of the 15 countries that receive PEPFAR funding (Oomman et al., 2008).
With PEPFAR usually providing more than three-quarters of the total external
AIDS spending, and presumably at least as large a share of treatment spending
in any recipient country, AIDS treatment entitlements are incumbent upon the
United States more than on any other donor or group of donors (Over, 2008). It
is unlikely that even relatively well-off countries with high HIV prevalence rates
will be able to absorb the costs of universal or widespread ARVs. Among the 15
PEPFAR countries, “South Africa is the only one to fund a sizable share of the
costs of its AIDS interventions from its own budget” (Over, 2008).
In the meantime, the importance of HIV prevention—as both a public health
and a fiscal imperative—cannot be overemphasized. The U.S. government should
maintain funding for ARV treatment for individuals already supported by PEP -
FAR, but it should also act diligently to ensure that the program prevents as many
HIV infections as possible, especially among young women in Africa (who are
three times more likely to be infected than men of the same age in many high-
burden countries) (UNAIDS, 2008). The committee supports the 2007 Institute
of Medicine (IOM) committee findings on PEPFAR implementation, which state
that in order to help countries make gains against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, PEP -
FAR will need to emphasize effective, evidence-based prevention with the same
urgency and intensity it has focused on treatment (IOM, 2007). Without a stron -
ger focus on prevention, PEPFAR costs could crowd out other equally important
global health initiatives (Over, 2008).
Provide Incentives for Better Health
To ensure that global health financing in all areas—HIV/AIDS, maternal
and child health, and health systems strengthening, among others—is contribut -
ing to significant, measurable, and sustainable health gains, the U.S. government
should consider novel approaches to delivering aid that is effective. Results-based
financing—one of several routes to improving health outcomes and systems per-
formance—relies on a government or donor providing material rewards when,
and only when, particular results are achieved. Ideally, these extrinsic incentives
are offered as an add-on at the margins to complement reliable resources for
basic service delivery and are introduced in ways that reinforce good perfor-
OCR for page 141
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
mance. Applied at the highest level, donors link the release of additional funds
to improved health-related indicators, based on ex ante agreements negotiated
with the recipient government around a set of shared goals. At a lower level,
rewards can be granted to districts, health facilities, or even individual health
workers, based on performance. At the microlevel, mothers (or others who make
household-level decisions about health care) are rewarded on the basis of docu -
mented health-related behaviors, such as taking children for well-child visits for
vaccinations or maintaining prolonged treatment for conditions such as TB.
For example, under a currently operating USAID-funded scheme in Haiti,
nongovernmental health providers agree to reach certain targets such as the
proportion of children fully immunized, the proportion of new mothers with
assisted deliveries, and the proportion of pregnant women receiving prenatal care.
Ninety percent of the payment to the health providers is fixed, but the remainder
is made on the condition of good performance. In the seven years of operation,
the program has achieved remarkable improvements in key health indicators.
Nongovernmental health providers now reach about one-third of the population
(3 million people), providing essential services in a complicated environment of
violence, poverty, and limited government leadership. Full immunization cover-
age has increased by 13 percent per contract period, and assisted deliveries have
increased by 19 percent (Eichler and Levine, 2009).
The results measured are usually expressed in terms of outputs, such as the
number of health workers trained or immunizations delivered. However they
can also be assessed from the wider perspective of health outcomes, such as a
program’s impact on saving lives or reversing the trend of malaria infections in
its target population.
Results-based financing is thus a tool to address persistent problems or
bottlenecks in the functioning of a health system, including inadequate services
or low utilization of services, particularly by the poor, while also increasing the
total amount of resources available for service improvement. A broad sectoral
understanding of the causes of such problems is essential to determining whether
results-based aid will work in a particular context. An assessment of institutional
arrangements, such as mechanisms for the flow of funds, is also important in
judging whether these can facilitate or impede “paying for results.” Design and
operational considerations for such programs include, but are not limited to,
careful choices about the targets, indicators, incentives, contractual details, and
information sources. Strong information systems, complemented by credible
verification and validation mechanisms, are critical to these programs.
To date, results-based aid has mostly been tried in two types of contexts:
first, in fragile or post-conflict states such as Haiti and Afghanistan, where donors
make results-based arrangements with nongovernmental organizations, some -
times through the contracting units of health ministries; and second, in states
such as Rwanda and Zambia, where results-based financing is a part of major
reforms in health financing and organization to change the way business is done
and accelerate progress toward health goals. Demand-side incentives have been
OCR for page 142
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
used in a wide range of settings, from Latin America to the former Soviet Union
to Bangladesh (Eichler and Levine, 2009).
Increasingly, interest in results-based approaches is being expressed by
national and local governments. The World Bank and other agencies report quick
responses from governments to their requests for proposals, participation in work-
shops, or information. Apart from the expected interest among donor partners
and recipient country officials, an independent trend in support of performance
incentives can also be seen among thought leaders in low-income countries.
Evidence from results-based financing suggests that these programs have
led to important improvements in health and health system functioning. The
process of negotiating a common set of indicators to assess performance (and
appropriate incentive payments) has the effect of rallying participants around
a larger agreed-upon objective and presents opportunities for several important
benefits: (1) integrating “vertical” donor funding streams that are focused on one
specific disease, such as HIV/AIDS, to adopt a more comprehensive approach
to health care; (2) aligning the priorities of government, target community, and
donor; and (3) harmonizing donors in a country by avoiding duplication of their
efforts and capitalizing on synergies. As this agenda goes forward, important
operational questions remain about how performance-based programs can be
made more cost-effective and how certain risks can be mitigated—for example,
undue attention directed toward the rewarded services, participants attempting
to game the system, and erosion of the integrity of information systems (Eichler
and Levine, 2009).
Be Open to Innovative Financing
Innovative finance for health offers new opportunities for multilateral financ-
ing of global health initiatives and includes new or newly applied financial instru-
ments as well as the institutions developed to implement them. Many of these
initiatives are partnerships between funding and recipient countries, industries,
intergovernmental organizations, and foundations that allow for donor coordi -
nation and harmonization, as well as long-term predictability (Ferranti et al.,
2008).
Within the last decade, several innovative finance mechanisms have been
developed to counteract the current trend of unpredictable, volatile, and short-
term aid. Innovative finance initiatives are proposed solutions that may be applied
to various goals such as increasing access to existing vaccines and medicines by
creating procurement funds or creating incentives for the development of new
technologies (Ferranti et al., 2008).
UNITAID, for example, is an international drug purchase facility that is
funded primarily by a revolutionary tax on air travel. The predictability of airline
travel and the continuous upward trend in fares provide a constant source of fund-
ing for UNITAID that allows the purchase of bulk medicines and contributions
to the Global Fund. In 2006, France enacted the airline solidarity tax, followed
OCR for page 143
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
by Chile, the Republic of Korea, and several African countries. The concept of
the tax is flexible, and each government determines the details of its own tax. For
example, the tax can be applied to domestic flights, international fights, or both,
and the tax can vary depending on the class of service.
Opponents argue that the tax may affect the market for airline travel or
force consumers to contribute to a cause they may not feel passionately about.
Supporters of the tax praise the idea as the first progressive tax to target a global
public good and note that the cost of the tax is low compared to the price of an
airline ticket. A recent opinion poll of the American public found that 57 per-
cent thought the United States should join these countries and would support
charging an additional $1 to $2 on international flights to support UNITAID
(WorldPublicOpinion.org, 2009).
While U.S. academics and institutions have been the intellectual drivers
behind many of these innovative funding models, such as Advance Market Com-
mitments and Affordable Medicines Facility-Malaria, the U.S. government has
been reluctant to fund these endeavors. Congress and federal executive branch
agencies should be open to supporting these mechanisms as an opportunity to
address long-term funding needs and work in collaboration with the private
sector. Where it finds a lack of evidence to warrant a full commitment to any
particular funding model, the U.S. government should fund pilot projects that
could provide a proof of concept.
Recommendation 5-1. The President and Congress should commit to invest-
ing $15 billion in global health by 2012, with $13 billion of this directed to
the health-related MDGs and an additional $2 billion to the challenges of
noncommunicable diseases and injuries.
(A) While pursuing the goal of $13 billion per year for the health-related
MDGs, federal executive branch agencies should work with Congress to
create balance in the traditional portfolio of global health spending that
reflects the breadth of the health-related MDGs.
(1) Congress should fulfill its implied commitments under the PEPFAR
reauthorization to global AIDS programs ($7.8 billion per year),
malaria ($1 billion per year), and tuberculosis ($800 million per
year).
(2) The U.S. government should use the remaining $3.4 billion per year to
support programs such as health systems strengthening, children and
women’s health, nutrition, family planning and reproductive health,
and neglected diseases of poverty, all of which have been severely
underresourced during the past decade.
(3) Given concerns that PEPFAR costs could crowd out other equally
important global health initiatives, the U.S. government should main-
tain funding for ARV treatment for individuals already supported by
OCR for page 144
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
PEPFAR but should also act diligently to ensure that the program
prevents as many HIV infections as possible.
(B) Federal executive branch agencies and departments—particularly
CDC, NIH, and USAID—should work with Congress to identify specific
ways to respond to the contemporary challenges of noncommunicable
diseases and injuries and commit to investing $2 billion for this purpose
by 2012.
(C) The U.S. government and the private sector, including industry and
philanthropy, should continue to support and further explore novel incen -
tives and innovative funding mechanisms to ensure sustainability for (1)
research and product development for neglected conditions and diseases
that disproportionally affect poor populations, and (2) procurement and
delivery of these products.
ADDRESS THE GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH FUNDING GAP
Given the reality of limited funds, a difficult balance must be struck between
investing in the improved uptake of existing knowledge and practices and invest-
ing in research that could lead to new interventions—and even scientific discov-
eries—in the future. Investments in the health of people today (through better
delivery of existing approaches) and in the health of people tomorrow (by making
new discoveries to understand and combat disease) are both needed; the appro -
priate mix of health spending for care delivery and research should be weighed
against the urgency of combating a particular disease and the unique health needs
of a local population. However, excluding research from health assistance can
prove short-sighted and limit its effectiveness.
Provide More Adequate Funding for Health
Research to Benefit the Global Poor
While investments in research have saved, improved, and prolonged lives
even in the most impoverished settings in the world, governments and the com-
mercial sector—the two largest funders of health research—spend relatively little
on solutions for conditions of the global poor. For example, biomedical research
and development to combat infectious diseases that infect people living in low-
and middle-income countries represented only about 1.6 percent of worldwide
investments in health research.2
2 One study estimated that just over $2.5 billion was invested into research and development of
new neglected disease products in 2007 (Moran et al., 2009). The Global Forum for Health Research
estimated that the global expenditure on health research was $160.3 billion in 2005. Therefore, an
estimated 1.6 percent of global expenditure on health research was devoted to diseases and conditions
that primarily affect low- and middle-income countries.
OCR for page 145
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
This low allocation to address diseases that disproportionately affect the
poor is driven by two factors: (1) market failure and (2) the lack of resources
or political will within low-income countries to invest public funds in health
research. There are inadequate commercial incentives for the private sector, in
any country, to undertake research on diseases whose cures will have little or no
viable financial market. In the absence of lucrative sales for drugs, vaccines, and
diagnostics for such diseases, the pipeline for any new interventions has virtu -
ally dried up during the past three decades (Trouiller et al., 2002). Two studies
of drugs developed between 1975 and 2004 found that tropical diseases and TB
accounted for only slightly more than 1 percent of new products (Chirac and
Torreele, 2006; Trouiller et al., 2002).
In the United States, there are similar market failures for diseases that do not
have a viable commercial market. However, the U.S. government provides finan-
cial incentives to invest in these diseases through the Orphan Drug Act of 1983,
which encourages pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs for rare conditions
affecting fewer than 200,000 people by offering tax incentives and allowing sales
without competition for seven years. While low- and middle-income countries
have limited financial capacity to offer such incentives to the commercial sector,
investments by governments are crucial in the absence of market incentives to
reward health research.
Although low- and middle-income countries increased spending on health
research by 42 percent between 1998 and 2005 (GFHR, 2008), their contribu-
tion amounted to just 3 percent of the global funding for health research in 2005
(Schneegans, 2008). Research undertaken by the emerging economies has gone
some way toward reducing the asymmetry in knowledge generation between
wealthy and less wealthy nations. In November 2008, representatives from 62
countries met in Bamako, Mali, and committed to spending 2 percent of govern-
ment health budgets on health research in the Bamako Call to Action (Bamako
Call to Action, 2008).
The committee endorses the recommendation that all countries devote some
significant portion of public funding for health research—especially research
that benefits underserved populations—and include health research in their over-
all national strategic health and poverty reduction plans, but it also recognizes
the limitations faced by low-income countries in allocating significant sums for
health research.
For now, research to benefit the global poor remains primarily the realm
of high-income-country public and philanthropic donors. According to a study
conducted by the George Institute, around 90 percent of global biomedical R&D
funding for neglected diseases in 2007 was financed by public and philanthropic
donors. Four out of the top five funding organizations contributing to biomedical
research for neglected diseases that affect low- and middle-income countries were
based in the United States (NIH, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S.
Department of Defense, and USAID) (see Table 5-1). After the Gates Foundation
OCR for page 146
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
TABLE 5-1 Top 12 Organizational Funders of Neglected Diseases
Organization Amount (U.S.$) Percent
U.S. National Institutes of Health 1,064,859,791 41.6
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 452,102,715 17.7
European Commission 121,366,882 4.7
U.S. Department of Defense 86,914,578 3.4
U.S. Agency for International Development 80,600,336 3.1
Wellcome Trust 59,985,371 2.3
U.K. Medical Research Council 51,716,968 2.0
U.K. Department for International Development 47,565,987 1.9
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs 33,951,646 1.3
Institut Pasteur 31,617,540 1.2
Irish Aid 24,271,557 0.9
Swedish International Development Agency 21,529,014 0.8
Subtotal top 12 funders 2,076,482,385 81.1
Total R&D funding 2,560,068,749 100
SOURCE: Moran et al., 2009.
and NIH—representing 59.3 percent of the total investment made by the top 12
funders in global health research—the third-largest funder of biomedical R&D
on neglected diseases was the private sector, providing 9.1 percent of funding
(Moran et al., 2009).
The majority of global biomedical research and development funding (76.6
percent) for neglected diseases is focused on the big three: HIV/AIDS, malaria,
and TB. Other diseases have received less attention, even though they pose a
significant disease burden (Moran et al., 2009).
U.S. Government—The Largest Investor in Biomedical Research on Neglected
Diseases
The U.S. government provided nearly three-quarters of global public spend -
ing on neglected disease biomedical research, with an investment of $1.25 bil -
lion. While NIH is a significant contributor to global health research, the agency
spends less than 1 percent of its budget to fund research that tackles parasitic
and bacterial diseases, such as malaria, sleeping sickness, leprosy, and lymphatic
filariasis (NIAID, 2008), which are virtually unknown in the United States but
are among the most common infections for the world’s poorest billion people
(Hotez et al., 2007).
The exact amount that the U.S. government devotes to global health
research is unknown because it is difficult to isolate funds dedicated to global
health from domestic health research investments. For example, issues arise
when counting research on diseases that are shared by the United States and
low- and middle-income countries, such as AIDS and noncommunicable dis -
OCR for page 147
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
eases, or when counting basic research, which may not be related to any par-
ticular disease.
Beyond biomedical R&D, the U.S. government and foundations invest in
other forms of research that benefit health, such as economics, social and behav -
ioral sciences, and public health. To the committee’s knowledge, no studies have
been conducted to quantify the level of commitment in these areas, although it is
reasonable to believe that the investment is significantly smaller due to the dif -
ference in cost between biomedical and nonbiomedical research.
As a result, the total government expenditure applied to research relevant to
all the health problems of low-income countries cannot be estimated with any
meaningful degree of accuracy. Nonetheless, the committee finds that the invest -
ment by the United States in global health research is important, even though it
represents a miniscule fraction of the overall research budget for domestic health
research.
Public-Private Product Development Partnerships—Significant Recipients of
Research Funding
Notably, a significant portion of this research (23 percent) is managed by
public-private product development partnerships (PDPs) (Moran et al., 2009).
The benefits of this investment in PDPs are starting to be realized. Several prod -
ucts are in the pipeline with some entering late-stage clinical trials. It has been
estimated that $1 billion per year over the next 10 years will be required to put
the experimental treatments and vaccines currently in the PDP pipeline through
large human trials and file them with regulators (Herrling, 2009). While this is
more than the nearly $600 million that was invested in PDPs in 2007 (Moran
et al., 2009), several innovative public-private financing proposals are now under
consideration.
For example, FRIND—the Fund for R&D in Neglected Diseases—would
pool money from governments, foundations, and other sources to finance the
movement of potential treatments through the pipeline. Donors would only fund
drugs through one stage of the pipeline at a time, requiring regular feedback
before providing further money. In exchange for funding, the originator of the
drugs would grant exclusive licensing to the fund to use his or her product to
treat neglected diseases; such products would be priced affordably for low- and
middle-income countries. The originator would also hold a patent, retaining the
right to use compounds or elements of the discovery for different drugs in the
future (Herrling, 2009).
Continue Strong U.S. Commitment to Fund Global Health Research
The Bamako Call to Action urged international development agencies and
major funders of global health activities to allocate 5 percent of health devel -
OCR for page 148
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
opment assistance toward health research (Bamako Call to Action, 2008). The
appropriate allocation of foreign aid to care delivery and research depends on
the unique characteristics of particular diseases and their existing treatment and
prevention mechanisms, as well as the health needs of particular populations. For
example, in areas such as child survival, many interventions to prevent premature
death and disability already exist (Jones et al., 2003), but health systems research
is needed to determine how best to scale up and sustain delivery of these inter-
ventions (Bryce et al., 2003). Designating a portion of health aid to fund health
systems research, along with impact evaluations, is important for improving the
delivery of existing interventions. In some areas such as TB, however, health
outcomes would benefit from greater attention to finding novel tools and interven-
tions appropriate for improving care in low-income settings.
Research breakthroughs to address the needs of the world’s poorest popula-
tions can be promoted in several ways, most of which can be classified under two
complementary categories: “push” and “pull” mechanisms. A push mechanism is
the traditional mode of encouraging research, using direct funding to accelerate
the development of a vaccine, drug, or diagnostic by reducing the risks and costs
of R&D investment. Most of the U.S. government investment in global health
research is through push mechanisms, particularly through the NIH, and to a
lesser extent, through contributions to public-private PDPs.
A pull mechanism is a more novel mode of funding, in which the purchas-
ing power for particular types of vaccines, diagnostics, and drugs serves as an
incentive for commercial pharmaceutical firms to invest in the R&D required to
produce it. Pull mechanisms thus provide a market incentive for the same result
as a push mechanism, but with money being paid out only when a product has
been developed. Together, if designed in a coordinated fashion, the push through
NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services budgets can act in syn-
ergy with the pull provided by a donor to produce a vaccine or other product.
Existing support for global health research should be maintained, and as
investments in health research increase, so should investments in research that
has a global impact. In the spirit of the Bamako Call to Action, the committee
recommends that funding of research also be conducted through the Foreign
Operations budget—because it supports improvements to health in low- and
middle-income countries. This level of flexibility would allow the U.S. govern -
ment to leverage two types of approaches—push and pull mechanisms—to fund
global health research.
One way to do this is through a formal Advance Market Commitment (AMC),
such as the pilot AMC that has been developed for a vaccine against the strains of
pneumococcal disease prevalent in Africa and Asia. Although, in the past, donor
aid programs did not procure patented products on a large scale and the low- and
middle-income-country pharmaceutical market was not commercially attractive,
in recent years, donors have been willing to procure patented products (ARVs,
vaccines, antimalarials) at prices far higher than the pennies-per-dose customary
OCR for page 149
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
in earlier donor programs. This trend has served to accelerate the introduction and
uptake of cutting-edge medical products, bringing with it an opportunity to use
procurement strategy as a commercial incentive to encourage research into new
tools to address global health. Other pull mechanisms could also be developed
as a way to use development assistance for health to “prime” the pharmaceutical
market, by providing credible signals to potential developers and manufacturers
about the volume and prices to be paid for new and effective products. In one
attempt to stimulate R&D for neglected diseases, the U.S. Food and Drug Admin -
istration (FDA) developed a priority review voucher for neglected diseases. The
FDA will award a priority voucher to a company that wins FDA approval for a
drug for a neglected disease. The vouchers are intended to stimulate R&D for
neglected diseases by creating an incentive for pharmaceutical companies to bring
drugs in late-stage development to the market. Like AMCs, the priority vouchers
do not require upfront investment by the government, but the ultimate costs of the
vouchers are uncertain. A voucher can cut in half the time it takes to get a new
drug approved, which can result in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for
a company with a blockbuster drug—these profits ultimately come from the pur-
chasers of the drugs, both private consumers and governments (Waltz, 2008).
Recommendation 5-2. Federal executive branch agencies and departments
should work with Congress to design a coordinated approach to funding
global health research that leverages research subsidies through the Depart -
ment of Health and Human Services budget and innovative funding mech-
anisms for novel vaccine, drug, and diagnostic procurement through the
foreign affairs budget.
REFERENCES
Adeyi, O., O. Smith, and S. Robles. 2007. Public policy and the challenge of chronic noncommuni-
cable diseases. Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
and the World Bank.
Asaria, P., D. Chisholm, C. Mathers, M. Ezzati, and R. Beaglehole. 2007. Chronic disease prevention:
Health effects and financial costs of strategies to reduce salt intake and control tobacco use.
Lancet 370(9604):2044-2053.
Bamako Call to Action on Research for Health. 2008. Global Ministerial Forum on Research for
Health. Bamako, Mali, November 17-19.
Beaglehole, R., S. Ebrahim, S. Reddy, J. Voûte, and S. Leeder. 2007. Prevention of chronic diseases:
A call to action. Lancet 370(9605):2152-2157.
Bryce, J., S. El Arifeen, G. Pariyo, C. F. Lanata, D. Gwatkin, and J. P. Habicht. 2003. Reducing child
mortality: Can public health deliver? Lancet 362(9378):159-164.
Chirac, P., and E. Torreele. 2006. Global framework on essential health R&D. Lancet 367(9522):
1560-1561.
Eichler, R., and R. Levine. 2009. CGD Brief. Performance incentives for global health: Potential and
pitfalls. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.
OCR for page 150
0 THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
Ferranti, D. d., C. Griffin, M. L. Escobar, A. Glassman, and G. Lagomarsino. 2008. Innovative financ-
ing for global health: Tools for analyzing the options. Washington, DC: The Brookings Global
Economy and Development.
Foster, M., A. Keith, H. Waddington, and A. Harding. 2003. The case for increased aid: Final report
to the Department for International Development. Country Case Studies Vol 2. Essex, UK:
Mick Foster Economics.
GFHR (Global Forum for Health Research). 2008. Monitoring financial flows for health research
00: Prioritizing research for health equity. Geneva, Switzerland: GFHR.
Gottret, P., and G. Schieber. 2006. Health financing revisited: A practitioner’s guide. Washington, DC:
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank.
Greenberg, H., S. U. Raymond, and S. R. Leeder. 2005. Cardiovascular disease and global health:
Threat and opportunity. Health Affairs Suppl Web Exclusives:W-5-31-W-35-3141.
Gupta, S., B. Clements, A. Pivovarsky, and E. Tiongson. 2004. Foreign aid and revenue response:
Does the composition of aid matter? In Helping countries develop: The role of fiscal policy.
Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.
Herrling, P. L. 2009. Financing R&D for neglected diseases. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 8(2):
91.
Hopkins, S. 2006. Economic stability and health status: Evidence from East Asia before and after the
1990s economic crisis. Health Policy 75(3):347-357.
Hotez, P. J., D. H. Molyneux, A. Fenwick, J. Kumaresan, S. E. Sachs, J. D. Sachs, and L. Savioli. 2007.
Control of neglected tropical diseases. New England Journal of Medicine 357(10):1018-1027.
IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2007. PEPFAR implementation: Progress and promise. Washington,
DC: The National Academies Press.
Jones, G., R. W. Steketee, R. E. Black, Z. A. Bhutta, and S. S. Morris. 2003. How many child deaths
can we prevent this year? Lancet 362(9377):65-71.
Kates, J., J. Fischer, and E. Lief. 2009. The U.S. government’s global health policy architecture:
Structure, programs, and funding. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
Lagarde, E. 2007. Road traffic injury is an escalating burden in Africa and deserves proportionate
research efforts. PLoS Medicine 4(6).
Lim, S. S., T. A. Gaziano, E. Gakidou, K. S. Reddy, F. Farzadfar, R. Lozano, and A. Rodgers. 2007.
Prevention of cardiovascular disease in high-risk individuals in low-income and middle-income
countries: Health effects and costs. Lancet 370(9604):2054-2062.
Lopez, A., C. Mathers, M. Ezzati, D. Jamison, and C. Murray, eds. 2006a. Global burden of disease
and risk factors. New York: Oxford University Press and the World Bank.
Lopez, A., C. Mathers, M. Ezzati, D. Jamison, and C. Murray. 2006b. Measuring the global burden
of disease and risk factors, 1990-2001. In Global burden of disease and risk factors, edited by
A. Lopez, C. Mathers, M. Ezzati, D. Jamison and C. Murray. New York: Oxford University
Press and the World Bank.
Moran, M., J. Guzman, A.-L. Ropars, A. McDonald, T. Sturm, N. Jameson, L. Wu, S. Ryan, and B.
Omune. 2009. Neglected disease research and development: How much are we really spending?
Sydney, Australia: The George Institute for International Health.
NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases). 2008. Figures from 2007 NIAID fund-
ing. Personal communication with Suzanne Levy, Washington, DC.
Norton, R., A. A. Hyder, D. Bishai, and M. Peden. 2006. Unintentional injuries. In Disease control
priorities in developing countries, edited by D. T. Jamison, J. G. Breman, A. R. Measham, G.
Alleyne, M. Claeson, D. B. Evans, P. Jha, A. Mills and P. Musgrove. New York: Oxford Uni -
versity Press and the World Bank.
OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). 2008a. Debt relief is down: Other
ODA rises slightly. Tables and charts. Paris, France: OECD.
———. 2008b. Measuring aid to health. Paris, France: OECD.
OCR for page 151
INCREASE U.S. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS
———. 2009. Official development assistance statistics. In Query Wizard for International Develop -
ment Statistics. http://stats.oecd.org/qwids/ (accessed March 22, 2009).
Oomman, N., M. Bernstein, and S. Rosenzweig. 2008. Seizing the opportunity on AIDS and health
systems. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.
Over, M. 2008. Prevention failure: The ballooning entitlement burden of U.S. global AIDS treatment
spending and what to do about it. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.
Pongou, R., J. A. Salomon, and M. Ezzati. 2006. Health impacts of macroeconomic crises and poli -
cies: Determinants of variation in childhood malnutrition trends in Cameroon. International
Journal of Epidemiology 35(3):648-656.
Roodman, D. 2007. CGD Brief. The 00 Commitment to Development index: Components and
results. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.
Salaam-Blyther, T. 2008. Global health: Appropriations to USAID programs from FY00 through
FY00. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Schieber, G., L. Fleisher, and P. Gottret. 2006. Getting real on health financing. Finance and Devel-
opment 43(4).
Schieber, G. J., P. Gottret, L. K. Fleisher, and A. A. Leive. 2007. Financing global health: Mission
unaccomplished. Health Affairs 26(4):921-934.
Schneegans, S. 2008. Bamako Call to Action urges new approach to health research. UNESCO Science
Sector. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=44108&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_
SECTION=201.html (accessed February 24, 2008).
Trouiller, P., P. Olliaro, E. Torreele, J. Orbinski, R. Laing, and N. Ford. 2002. Drug develop -
ment for neglected diseases: A deficient market and a public-health policy failure. Lancet
359(9324):2188-2194.
UN (United Nations). 2003. Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development. Monterrey, Mex-
ico: The final text of agreements and commitments adopted at the International Conference on
Financing for Development, 18-22 March 2002.
———. 2008. The Millennium Development Goals report. New York: UN.
UN Millennium Project. 2005. Part 4: The costs and benefits of achieving the Millennium Develop -
ment Goals. In Investing in development: A practical plan to achieve the Millennium Develop-
ment Goals. New York: UN.
———. 2006. Investing in development: A practical plan to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals. New York: UN.
UNAIDS (United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS). 2008. Report on the global HIV/AIDS
epidemic 00: Executive summary. Geneva, Switzerland: UNAIDS.
Wagstaff, A., M. Claeson, R. M. Hecht, P. Gottret, and Q. Fang. 2006. Millennium Development
Goals for health: What will it take to accelerate progress? In Disease control priorities in
developing countries, edited by D. T. Jamison, J. G. Breman, A. R. Measham, G. Alleyne, M.
Claeson, D. B. Evans, P. Jha, A. Mills, and P. Musgrove. New York: Oxford University Press
and the World Bank.
Waltz, E. 2008. FDA launches priority vouchers for neglected-disease drugs. Nature Biotechnology
26(12):1315-1316.
Waters, H., F. Saadah, and M. Pradhan. 2003. The impact of the 1997-98 East Asian economic crisis
on health and health care in Indonesia. Health Policy and Planning 18(2):172-181.
White House. 2009. Statement by the President on global health initiative. The Briefing Room. http://
www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Statement-by-the-President-on-Global-Health-Initiative/
(accessed May 5, 2009).
WHO (World Health Organization). 2001. Macroeconomics and health: Investing in health for
economic development. Report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. Geneva,
Switzerland: WHO.
WHO, OECD, and the World Bank. 2008. Effective aid, better health. Paper presented at Accra High
Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, Accra, Ghana, September 2-4.
OCR for page 152
THE U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH
World Bank. 2007a. Gross domestic product 2007, PPP. In World Development Indicators Database.
World Bank.
———. 2007b. Population 2007. In World Development Indicators Database. World Bank.
———. 2008. Finance ministers urge bank, IMF to step up assistance to developing world. http://
go.worldbank.org/L9E4MUC9A0 (accessed October 27, 2008).
———. 2009a. Crisis hitting poor hard in developing world, World Bank says. http://go.worldbank.
org/PGNOX87VO0 (accessed March 18, 2009).
———. 2009b March 13-14, 2009. Swimming against the tide: How developing countries are coping
with the global crisis. Paper presented at G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors
Meeting, Horsham, UK.
WorldPublicOpinion.org. 2009. American public opinion and global health. College Park, MD: The
Program on International Policy Attitudes, University of Maryland.
