Financing Global Common Goods for Health
Global public health is under threat from challenges that transcend the boundaries of individual nation states, including pandemics and antimicrobial resistance. Activities that can curb these transnational threats are called global common goods for health (CGH). These goods cannot be fully funded through the private market because providing them is subject to market failures—either because they are global public goods or because of the large health externalities they generate. Central to the case for investing in global CGH are (1) the very large health and economic returns of such investment and (2) the high health and economic costs of inaction. In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, about $5–7 billion was spent annually on global CGH. A conservative estimate of the cost of funding a range of high priority CGH is about $50 billion annually. Mechanisms to close the financing gap include resource mobilization, pooling, and strategic purchasing.
