Innovative spending: what should money be spent on to make global health innovations more effective in developing countries?

Funding
ESRC
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This project focuses on two countries in Africa (South Africa and Zimbabwe) and researches two global health funders (Gates Foundation and Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria), in order to specifically explore how decisions on what health innovations to fund are arrived at in the quest for solutions to HIV/AIDS and malaria. Data is being gathered using an innovative multi-method approach encompassing use of questionnaires, cognitive mapping, semi-structured interviews, document reviews, participation in discussion fora, and observation of decision-making processes in the countries and organisations.

In addition to relevant staff from the Gates Foundation (such as those from the Global Health Programme and Operations teams), the Global Fund (in particular regional and national grant portfolio managers) and the WHO (regional and country office representatives), the study engages national government officials in charge of health, finance, science, technology, and innovation. The research process and findings will impact not only the study countries and the funding agencies, but will cut across a wide terrain of international academic, policy, and practice communities with an interest in global health issues, in particular how decisions on health spending can be more imaginative and impactful in this era of financial stress.