January 25, 2007 | Read Time: 2 minutes
PRESS CLIPPINGS
Giving to global health has grown to unprecedented levels in the last few years, but if governments and private donors do not do more to help build medical facilities and pay the salaries of doctors and nurses in poor countries the assistance could exacerbate the problems of sick people, says an essay in Foreign Affairs magazine (January/February).
The essay by Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York, says that wealthy nations and philanthropies, like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, need to abandon their focus on specific diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. The approach, which she called “stovepiping,” ignores the real needs of the developing world.
“Stovepiping tends to reflect the interest and concerns of the donors, not the recipients,” Ms. Garrett writes. “Diseases and health conditions that enjoy a temporary spotlight in rich countries garner the most attention and money.”
For example, many donors pay for AIDS drugs, but not for efforts to prevent maternal deaths during childbirth, which is one of the top three killers in most impoverished nations.
The new windfall for health problems has also led many medical workers in needy areas to chase better-paying jobs offered by international aid groups, depleting public institutions and hospitals of medical talent.
Ms. Garrett acknowledges that foundations often focus on diseases and other specific health problems to be able to better measure their efforts. She writes that this is a notable practice, but one that ultimately is damaging for the people the funds seek to aid.
“It is essential that philanthropic donors review the relationship between the pressure they place on recipients to achieve their narrow targets and the possible deleterious outcomes for life expectancy and maternal health due to the diversion of local health-care personnel and research talent.”
The article is available online.
