Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

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• Costing
• Financial Flows

Resource Inputs

A majority of the global burden of disease lies in low- and middle-income countries. In contrast, these countries account for a minor share of total global health spending. Given this discrepancy, it is not surprising that improving health in developing countries and mobilizing more resources to achieve that end have emerged as urgent development priorities. Similarly, quantifying the costs of health improvement has also proven essential in allocating scarce resources.

Objective, comparable, and comprehensive information on national and international resources from both public and private sources for global health is needed for improving the quality of policymaking and planning at all levels. It is also an essential ingredient for the effective monitoring and evaluation of global health initiatives and national health programs.

While some organizations track some of the financial aid for health, no one is tracking the big picture. As a result, IHME is working on tracking major components of financial resource inputs for health to help answer global and national health policy questions. We are collecting data from a variety of sources to address some of these critical issues. The Resource Inputs Team is focusing on financial flows, including development assistance for health (monetary and in-kind) and National Public expenditures – the amount of money that is spent by local and/or national governments on health. The development assistance for health research, Financing of global health: tracking development assistance for health from 1990 to 2007, was published in The Lancet in June 2009, followed in July 2009 by the Institute's first policy report, Financing Global Health 2009: Tracking Development Assistance for Health.

In addition, the Costing work group is studying how to best quantify costs of the health sector using quantitative analysis and rigorous survey techniques to capture country information that will value the cost of health systems and health service delivery platforms. By quantifying the costs of health service delivery platforms, defined as conduits through which health interventions and public health measures are implemented, researchers at IHME will be better able to provide valuable expertise to help understand the financial mechanisms that govern the health sector. The work that’s being done by the Costing team will be instrumental in further developing the research undertaken by the Disease Control Priorities Network.

For more information, please contact: resourceinputs@healthmetricsandevaluation.org