Three social enterprises set the pace for global health

African children

Researchers have identified three global organisations that new funding initiatives should emulate to meet health priorities in poorer countries.

Researchers have identified three global organisations that new funding initiatives should emulate in order to meet health priorities in poorer countries, in research published today in the journal The Lancet.

The study is a comprehensive review of new funding methods that raised money for health in developing countries between 1990 and 2010. It found that the GAVI Alliance, a not-for-profit organisation that supports vaccination in developing countries, the Global Fund, which fights diseases including AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and UNITAID, which funds medicines and diagnostics for poorer countries, were the sole organisations whose innovative financing methods had raised and distributed funds on a global scale. These organisations have reached global scale, between them funding programmes in more than 150 countries.

Health aid for poorer countries has increased every year since 2000, reaching US$26.66billion in 2010. However, the increase in aid slowed significantly between 2010 and 2011 due to the economic crisis, putting at risk the health gains made by countries benefiting from aid.

Professor Rifat Atun, Professor of International Health Management at Imperial College and Head of the Health Management Group at Imperial College Business School, said: “The world is experiencing its most severe financial crisis since the great depression. Traditional donors cannot alone provide the funding needed to meet goals agreed in 2000 by the United Nations. Our study shines the spotlight on three global institutions that have developed innovative and successful financing models to raise new funds, which are critical if we are to meet these goals.”

The research was carried out by a team from Imperial College London, the Harvard Global Equity Initiative and Harvard School of Public Health.

Professor Felicia Knaul, Director of Harvard Global Equity initiative commented: "Results - in health outcomes and economic well being - have been documented, scaled up and replicated. Initial efforts are paying off and innovative financing for improved global health is a core investment for a healthier global future. ”

The study found that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) is an innovative funder of these three institutions, highlighting the important role private foundations now play in global health.

Professor Atun added: “The GAVI Alliance emerges as a model for the future, a public-private organisation that successfully raised $5.2billion from 2000 to 2010 through multiple sources, including innovative financing methods.”

GAVI has successfully used funding from the ‘International Financing Facility for Immunization’, which raises bonds that can rapidly convert government commitments to cash. GAVI has channelled these funds to countries that need support for purchasing vaccines. Another innovative financing strategy used by GAVI is the ‘Advance Market Commitment’, which enables tailor-made vaccines for children in developing countries to be purchased in advance at negotiated prices.

The team also revealed that UNITAID raised about $1.3billion between 2006 and 2010, largely through the innovative approach of a levy on airline tickets in six countries, and used these funds to achieve favourable prices for AIDS medicines for children in poor countries.

The authors concluded that innovative financing is essential to reduce dependence on contributions from donor governments. These innovative instruments provide a different way of raising money from new sources and making it available to address global health problems.#

By Cher Thornhill