Humanosphere

Updated Nov. 14 2011, 12:05pm

Private sector donors have been controversial for the embattled World Health Organization. But one counter-intuitive suggestion says, Don’t forgo corporate donors; just find more of them.

Journalist Sonia Shah outlines that recommendation in a Foreign Affairs article detailing how private groups – from the mining, soft-drink and pharmaceutical industries — have been able to manipulate the global health agenda to suit their interests.

WHO financing from member states has virtually run dry and the agency has “nowhere else to turn,” she writes, noting this stark reality:

“Private interests now bankroll four out of every five dollars of the WHO’s budget.” (editor’s note – Sonia Shah modified her statement:)

“Most telling is the fact that voluntary contributions from private interests and others now bankroll four out of every five dollars of the WHO’s budget.”

(By this, Shah means 80-percent comes from all donations combined, which includes private companies, NGO’s and governments who make voluntary, additional donations, beyond their annual dues.)

As far as privatization of global health funding goes, the genie is out of the lamp, says Shah, who is the author of several global health books. So the answer is to recruit more private sector involvement “to include those companies whose financial interests directly align with those of global health.” She writes:

In addition to mining companies, the fight against malaria could, for example, include insurance companies and tourism operators who will reap long-term profits from healthier customers and less fearful tourists. … Private companies like these, with health-aligned business interests, are much more likely to realize the promise of private-public partnerships than those that have damages to hide.  Continue reading →