What is development assistance for health (DAH) and why is measuring it important?
Development assistance represents financial and in-kind contributions by donors (e.g., high-income countries, foundations, public-private partnerships, philanthropy) to recipient low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Monies given for health sector initiatives are termed development assistance for health (DAH).
Much is known about the DAH landscape in general, and for high profile global health conditions.(see: IHME Financing for Global Health Reports, among others). However, the funding landscape for trauma care was up until this point unknown. To address this gap, this original research aimed to track DAH for trauma care, uncover funding trends and gaps, and compare these disbursements to DAH for other high priority global health conditions. This material serves as advocacy material and a call to action by equipping global policymakers, donors and national governments to fight for increased funds to be re-directed to this area to better match the current burden.
A high-level perspective piece of this analysis was published by the World Health Organization Bulletin in April 2019 and results cited at various international trauma conferences including the The African Federation of Emergency Medicine and the International Federation for Emergency Medicine. A more in-depth write-up was published in the Journal of Global Health in 2021.
Publications
Hollis SM, Amato SS, Bulger E, Mock C, Reynolds T, Stewart BT. Tracking global development assistance for trauma care: A call for advocacy and action. J Glob Health. 2021 Mar 27;11:04007. doi: 10.7189/jogh.11.04007. PMID: 33828843; PMCID: PMC8005307.
Key Collaborators
World Health Organization: Teri Reynolds
University of Washington: Barclay Stewart
University of Vermont: Stas Salerno
Assistance with statistical programming: David Petty
Assistance with graphic design and visualizations: Pere Aizcorbe