Gavin Yamey

Global public goods (GPGs) for health are a critical component of the global health enterprise, and yet to date, they have been relatively neglected and under-funded. Both markets and governments have natural incentives to under-invest in global collective functions—markets under-invest because there is no clear demand, and governments under-invest due to the so-called “free-rider problem”.  Yet, when it comes to GPGs for health, the health and economic risks of ignoring them and the benefits of investing in them are transnational, warranting co-financing by the global community. This presentation makes the case for investing in GPGs for health. It lays out the key value propositions of such investments. It summarizes new research that quantifies the flows of official development assistance for health to GPGs for health and estimates the finance gap. Given that the existing financing mechanisms have not closed the gap, it proposes a suite of different options for directing additional finance to GPGs for health and discusses the overall governance of such finance.