What global health donors should do
Justice Nonvignon (left) is is Head of Health Economics and Financing Program at the Africa CDC and Professor of Health Economics at the University of Ghana. Olusoji Adeyi is President of Resilient Health Systems and Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
In a far-reaching article, the two global health experts call for donors to set a “sunset” date for global health institutions that are entering their third decade of existence. Adeyi and Nonvignon are affiliated with Johns Hopkins University and the African Center for Disease Control, respectively, but they write in their personal capacities.
Their critique responds to recent comments by Norwegian Secretary of State Bjørg Sandkjær about Norway’s current re-think of its silo approach to global health. In her interview with Development Today, she questioned the wisdom of setting an end date for organisations like Gavi and the Global Fund. “I don’t think the countries would want that,” she said. “It is important for us to respond to countries, not dictate what they should be doing. We are not just naively providing charity.”
The article also argues that the Future of Global Health Initiatives, co-led by Norway’s former Global Health Ambassador John-Arne Røttingen, did not go far enough. “It failed to make a decisive shift from the status quo and offers no profound improvement,” they write.
Adeyi and Nonvignon have a list of proposals for donors. Read the full article.