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1. WHO Technical Report on Cancer Pricing Misses the Mark—It Should Focus on the “Demand Side”

Author:
Kalipso Chalkidou, Adrian Towse, and Richard Sullivan
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Criticising cancer medicine pricing as too high is what football fans know as an "open goal"—a target that is hard to miss. Yet somehow the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Report on Cancer Pricing manages to do just that with a paper to the WHO Executive Board calling for price and cost transparency. The assumption goes that transparency will reduce the prices and costs of cancer medicines, a mantra that has united the Trump administration, the US Congress, and the Italian health minister with many NGOs who have called for “greater cost and price transparency”—a sentiment echoed by KEI, which states that “international action is required to improve transparency in reporting the costs of R&D and production, including public sources of funding.”
Topic:
World Health Organization, Health Care Policy, Medicine, Cancer, and Price
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Ethnic Politics and Ebola Response in West Africa

Author:
Souleymane Soumahoro
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
In this paper, I examine the effects of power sharing on vulnerability to adverse shocks in a multiethnic setting. Combining a unique dataset on the allocation of ministerial posts across ethnicities with the spatial distribution of Ebola, I provide evidence that ethnic representation mitigated the transmission of Ebola in Guinea and Sierra Leone. The findings suggest that one percentage point increase in proportional cabinet shares reduced Ebola transmission by five percent, as reflected in the total number of confirmed cases. I also provide suggestive evidence that this relationship goes beyond a simple correlation and operates through public resource capture and trust in political institutions.
Topic:
World Health Organization and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa

3. Better Hospitals, Better Health Systems, Better Health – A Proposal for a Global Hospital Collaborative for Emerging Economies

Author:
Center for Global Development
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Hospitals are central to building and maintaining healthy populations around the world. They serve as the first point of care for many, offer access to specialized care, act as loci for medical education and research, and influence standards for national health systems at large. Yet despite their centrality within health systems, hospitals have been sidelined to the periphery of the global health agenda as scarce financial resources, technical expertise, and political will instead focus on the expansion of accessible primary care. As a result, many hospitals in low- and middle-income countries have failed to evolve and modernize, both in operations and infrastructure, while the knowledge base on hospital effectiveness and efficiency remains small and inadequate. In turn, the standard of care and efficiency achieved by these hospitals has stagnated. The gap in treatment capacity and quality between wealthier and poorer countries—and between hospitals serving wealthier and poorer populations—is widening, just as emerging economies are poised to expand the range and depth of healthcare through universal health coverage.
Topic:
World Health Organization and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Global Focus