http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/09/the-health-impact-fund/ a project of the National Humanities Center Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:42:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/2011/09/the-health-impact-fund/comment-page-1/#comment-8314 Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:51:39 +0000 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/on-the-human/?p=2738#comment-8314 The Health Impact Fund is a terrific idea. (Full disclosure: I’ve been part of the team that has been working on it with Thomas Pogge.) The difficulties I see are purely practical, and I hope soluble.
The first is to have a method of measuring health impact that is sufficiently robust to generate confidence in pharmaceutical corporations that they will indeed be rewarded for the benefits that their drugs produce, and in governments, to be sure that their money will be well spent. We are, after all, talking of the disposal of billions of dollars here, which means that manipulation of data could pay off handsomely for the pharmaceutical companies. Will it be possible to ensure that the process has sufficient integrity to withstand the threat of corruption?
The second problem is to persuade governments to put serious money into something that has not been tried. Obviously, the first requirement is to get funding for the pilots that Thomas mentions. Then, if they are carried out, and succeed, the next task is to get some governments to put up substantial sums for the scheme. If only clear argument, sound logic, and the prospect of saving millions of lives, were enough to move governments to action!
Eventually, though, the Health Impact Fund, or something very like it, has to happen.

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