Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report

Search Daily Report

Global Health Events

Calendar
Upcoming Events List
  • African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) Meeting in Ghana The fifth annual international conference of the African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) will be held Nov. 9-11 in Accra, Ghana, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. The theme of this year's conference will be improving maternal, newborn, and child health in Africa, which will be discussed by top experts from around the world. ASADI V will kick off with the release of Science in Action: Saving the Lives of Africa's Mothers, Newborns, and Children, a new report by several African science academies, assessing the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing maternal and childhood mortality -- the focus of U.N. Millennium Development Goals Four and Five -- in sub-Saharan Africa. The report will include estimates of lives that could be saved if proven scientific methods reached more parts of Africa. 11/9
  • Meeting HIV/AIDS Cost Demands: Is The Global Response Working? The November/December 2009 edition of Health Affairs focuses on key global health challenges – including the economic, political, scientific and ethical ones – facing world policymakers in their response to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Over the next several years, the world could face a funding shortfall that would prevent millions more with HIV/AIDS from gaining access to antiretroviral drugs. Yet over the long-term, the world could also take critical steps to slash the global burden of HIV-AIDS – and the costs of battling the pandemic – by half. 11/10
  • Meeting HIV/AIDS Cost Demands: Is The Global Response Working? The November/December 2009 edition of Health Affairs focuses on key global health challenges – including the economic, political, scientific and ethical ones – facing world policymakers in their response to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Over the next several years, the world could face a funding shortfall that would prevent millions more with HIV/AIDS from gaining access to antiretroviral drugs. Yet over the long-term, the world could also take critical steps to slash the global burden of HIV-AIDS – and the costs of battling the pandemic – by half. 11/10

Rockefeller Foundation Launches $100M 5-Year Initiative To Improve Health Systems In Africa, Asia

Toolbox

Thursday, July 02, 2009

The Rockefeller Foundation launched a $100 million, five-year initiative aimed at improving health systems in Asia and Africa, Judith Rodin, the foundation's president, said in a speech on Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya, Xinhua reports. The Transforming Health Systems (THS) project will begin with investments in Ghana, Rwanda and Vietnam, and will also support certain regional and global activities (Ooko, 7/1). The goal of THS is to "help countries in Africa and Asia that lack the latest treatments and technology; and where many people are forced to pay their medical bills out of pocket," VOA News writes (DeCapua, 7/1). 

Rodin said THS will put the emphasis on assisting low-income countries with the challenges their health systems face, shifting the focus from treatments and vaccines. She said the goal is to expand health coverage and provide new health and financial protections for everyone, Xinhua writes. "Although it is imperative that we continue developing and delivering new vaccines and medicines, many people still cannot access a clinic, pay out-of-pocket costs for medication and treatment, and fall into poverty as a result," Rodin said, adding that THS "will help ensure that investment is felt universally by supporting national efforts to provide equitable access."

"A country's shift to universal coverage does not happen overnight," Ariel Pablos-Mendez, managing director responsible for THS, said. Low-income countries have already demonstrated, the shift is "built on the reorganization of domestic financing rather than the influx of increased amounts of foreign aid," Pablos-Mendez said, adding, "If invested more wisely, increases in health spending can contribute to sound economic policy, better health outcomes, and lower rates of poverty" (7/1).

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports the foundation will try three approaches for the new initiative, which are: "training health professionals and developing better health policies, data-gathering, and financing mechanisms; improving regulation and partnership of private hospitals and other nongovernment health players; and using mobile phones, electronic health records, and other information technology to improve access to health services and making them less expensive" (Wilhelm, 7/1).

In a release, Rockefeller Foundation Managing Director in Africa James Nyoro, said, "Despite the global economic situation, investment in health systems that provide accessible, affordable and quality care to the developing world cannot wait" (7/1).

The Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report is published by the Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2009 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.