E-DRUG: WHO Prequalification - Summary of public consultation responses on financing model
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Dear E-drug readers,
The WHO has published the summary of the responses to its consultation on the proposal for a new financing model for the WHO Pre-qualification Program. The proposed new financing model is based on raising funds from companies that use the system, which raises a number of issues in particular the risk of jeopardising the Program’s most prized values such as independence and trustworthiness.
Here are the findings:
http://apps.who.int/prequal/info_general/documents/advocacy/Consultation_Summary_2015.pdf
And here you can find the proposal:
http://apps.who.int/prequal/info_general/documents/advocacy/Financial_model_public_consultation_2015.pdf
(Readers of E-drug may have missed the consultation because it took place during the time the list was down.)
I am of the opinion that the public would be much better served if donors, such as the Global Fund, UNITAID and countries — all also huge beneficiaries of the programs cost saving features — would form a consortium and finance the program through the budget of the WHO. UNITAID and the Gates Foundation today provide important financing for the WHOPQ. See here:
For more information about the history of WHO PQ Program and ideas for financing it this article may be of interest:
Ellen FM ’t Hoen, Hans V. Hogerzeil, Jonathan D. Quick, and Hiiti B. Sillo. "A quiet revolution in global public health: The World Health Organization’s Prequalification of Medicines Programme." Journal of public health policy 35, no. 2 (2014): 137-161.
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/journal/v35/n2/full/jphp201353a.html
(Contact me if you have difficulty accessing it.)
Kind regards,
Ellen ’t Hoen