PHM-Exch> Who Sets the Global Health Research Agenda?

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) <ruglucia at paho.org>
CROSSPOSTED FROM: EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org


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*Who Sets the Global Health Research Agenda?
The Challenge of Multi-Bi Financing*

*Devi Sridhar*, Blavatnik School of Government & Department of Politics and
International Relations, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK****

*PLoS Med 9(9): e1001312. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001312 - September 25,
2012

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Available online at: http://bit.ly/RkUfsI

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“…….A major challenge in the governance of research funding is
priority-setting. As a former health minister in sub-Saharan **Africa**noted, “
*Everyone is chasing the money—reputable universities, the UN agencies,
partnerships, civil society groups, so who is actually doing what
developing countries really need, rather than what donors want?”* [1]

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The past 15 years have been called revolutionary in global health in terms
of the funding raised and the number of initiatives launched. One of the
side effects of having more money, institutions, and initiatives in global
health is increased competition among the various parties. And, the
priorities of funding bodies largely dictate what health issues and
diseases are studied.

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In this Essay, I argue that the challenge of agenda-setting that occurs in
research funding is a consequence of a larger phenomenon in global health,
“multi-bi financing.”

Multilateral funding refers to monies given to an organization that
involves two or more governments or other institutions, the prime example
being the United Nations; bilateral funding refers to monies given from one
government or institution to another such as the US Agency for
International Development (USAID) grants to ****Haiti****.

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Multi-bi financing refers to the practice of donors choosing to route
non-core funding—earmarked for specific sectors, themes, countries, or
regions—through multilateral agencies and to the emergence of new
multistakeholder initiatives. Drawing on insights from political science
and international relations, I put forward an explanation for why these
developments are occurring and discuss the consequences for global health
research governance….” [au]****

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