Purchasing of Knowledge for Health Gains
The 20th century witnessed a global transformation in human health. Chile's experience illustrates the magnitude of this transformation. By the mid-1990s Chile's per capita income had reached about US$4,000 (adjusted for purchasing power)...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/09/5624777/purchasing-knowledge-health-gains http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13718 |
| Summary: | The 20th century witnessed a global
transformation in human health. Chile's experience
illustrates the magnitude of this transformation. By the
mid-1990s Chile's per capita income had reached about
US$4,000 (adjusted for purchasing power), and Chilean women
had achieved a life expectancy of 79 years. A century ago,
in 1900, today's high-income countries also had income
levels around $4,000-and, therefore, had resources
sufficient to provide their populations with adequate food,
water, shelter, and sanitation. Yet, for them, female life
expectancy at the time was perhaps 30 years less than it is
in Chile today. An important factor has been advance in
scientific knowledge and its application both in creating
powerful interventions and in guiding behavior. Acquisition
and utilization of health research and development or its
products becomes, then, an essential function of a
country's health system. Much knowledge is embodied in
global public goods: once a vaccine for hepatitis B has been
developed anywhere it becomes, in some sense, available
everywhere. Although monopoly pricing made possible by
patents may slow the diffusion of some innovations, the
temporary nature of patent-induced monopoly pricing limits
this effect. But an innovation's being cheap, powerful,
and globally available in no way entails its global use.
There indeed appears to be enormous variation in the rate at
which different countries make use of knowledge and products
that are globally available. This discussion paper presents
knowledge as an important function of national health
systems. The paper uses the term acquisition rather than
purchasing for the most part because of its more general
connotation. Most of the issues such as agency roles and
organization that are important for resource allocation and
purchasing in general are likewise important with respect to
research and development. |
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