In health spending, middle-income countries face a priorities ditch, not a financing ditch – but that still merits aid

By Amanda Glassman , Charles Kenny Jun. 3, 2015

After a successful replenishment earlier this year, the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is thinking through how to maximize the impact of the money it has raised. One hot issue is graduation from Gavi support. Currently, the Alliance uses an income cutoff loosely based on eligibility for IDA — soft loans from the World Bank. Other aid agencies, including the Global Fund …

Finding the true north of evidence-based policy development

By Nattha Tritasavit Jul. 30, 2014

Finding true north is important for accurate navigation to embarking on the right path. While there may be many paths to making policy decisions, the ultimate goal is to end up with a decision that has been well-informed by evidence. Evidenced-based policy decisions result in more transparent and effective outcomes that are defendable to the public. A case in point …

iDSI launches global public good: questionnaire on priority-setting readiness

Jun. 16, 2014

iDSI aims to help policymakers in low and middle income countries in building capacity for active priority-setting, such that they can spend limited health budgets in a more efficient and equitable way, and achieve sustainable universal health coverage (UHC). In order to help achieve iDSI this aim, we at NICE International have developed a questionnaire to assess countries’ ‘priority-setting readiness’. We believe this …

Gates Foundation calls for more principled cost-effectiveness in health

By Amanda Glassman Jun. 11, 2014

This is a post by Amanda Glassman reproduced with permission of the Center for Global Development Cost-effectiveness studies compare the costs and benefits of different interventions with the aim of improving decisions on the allocation of scarce resources for health.  Or, put simply, they allow policy-makers to set priorities for health spending and consider how the next dollar available can get more health for the money.