• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News

    Why a banker is good for the Global Fund

    Gabriel Jaramillo’s banking background may well be what the Global Fund needs to move from “passive cashier” to “strategic investor in the shared enterprise of producing health results,” writes Amanda Glassman of the Center for Global Development.

    By Devex Editor // 31 January 2012

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Gabriel Jaramillo’s banking background may well be what the Global Fund needs to move from “passive cashier” to “strategic investor in the shared enterprise of producing health results,” writes Amanda Glassman of the Center for Global Development.

    For a long time, the Global Fund focused on disbursing money, and disbursing as quickly as possible. The philosophy was something like: move the money and the recipient knows what to do. Yet several studies showed that funds were not allocated in a manner that maximized health results. And over the last year, in the wake of audits detecting misuse of a modest amount of resources, the emphasis shifted to fiduciary controls and oversight mechanisms.

    Yet the Fund -like other global health funders- faces a final frontier: how can the organization invest its resources to obtain the highest health return possible?

    Answering this question requires a fundamental rethink of the organization’s role as a commissioner of or payer for health services and, ultimately, health outcomes. Instead of a passive cashier, the Fund can become an active and strategic investor in the shared enterprise of producing health results. And that is a banker’s business.

    To move from cashier to investor, the Fund needs new information, competencies and organizational arrangements that allow it to commission or purchase care, outputs and outcomes effectively and responsibly.

    The Fund has led on these issues in the past, and is a leader in transparency and providing information to the public, as well as collecting prices and procurement information. Yet more can be done.

    An agency that plans to commission needs a clear definition of what interventions are to be purchased -at what minimum quality standard, on both the supply- and demand- sides. Ideally, interventions and products to be financed will be identified through a country-run process that rigorously considers economic evaluation and affordability, as well as social preferences and ethical considerations. Once a country has determined the appropriate mix of interventions that maximizes health impact within a given priority, countries -with Fund or partner support if needed- will need to track how much it costs to provide, how much is spent, and how results can be measured and attributed at baseline and follow-up.

    This is not research or academic nicety, but rather the necessary intelligence that will allow for effective policy in a recipient country and a return on investment by the Fund. With this information, the Fund and its recipient partners can implement genuine performance-based contracts based on mutual accountability with a quantifiable, credible return on investment.

    In the absence of such intelligence, analysis and support ex ante and during implementation, proposals are filled with hundreds of non-standardized performance indicators, budgets are submitted with no financial or operational connection to performance indicators and targets, and the focus is on producing receipts instead of results.

    As Gabriel Jaramillo begins his work, his banking background should serve him well.

    Republished with permission from the Center for Global Development. View original article.

    • Funding
    • Global Health
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Devex Editor

      Devex Editor

      Thanks a lot for your interest in Devex News. To share news and views, story ideas and press releases, please email editor@devex.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    Global HealthOpinion: Global health is at a crossroads, emerging as a new asset class

    Opinion: Global health is at a crossroads, emerging as a new asset class

    Sponsored by AmgenOpinion: Are health systems really measuring what matters?

    Opinion: Are health systems really measuring what matters?

    Accelerating Action: Sponsored by World Child CancerOpinion: UHC must start somewhere — why not childhood cancer?

    Opinion: UHC must start somewhere — why not childhood cancer?

    Devex Pro InsiderDevex Pro Insider: The race to salvage USAID's institutional memory

    Devex Pro Insider: The race to salvage USAID's institutional memory

    Most Read

    • 1
      How low-emissions livestock are transforming dairy farming in Africa
    • 2
      Opinion: Mobile credit, savings, and insurance can drive financial health
    • 3
      Opinion: India’s bold leadership in turning the tide for TB
    • 4
      WHO names new directors in ongoing restructure
    • 5
      State Department employees in anxious limbo over massive staff cuts
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement