COVID-19 disparities by gender and income: Evidence from the Philippines.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting containment policies have hit the Philippines harder than most developing countries. The government lockdown is among the strictest in the world, and blanket school closures are the lengthiest. This article uses a novel simulation model to estimate the gendered and regional impacts of these factors on labour, income and poverty, and a case study of school closures points to the losses in employment among private school teachers and in the income of parents with young children. The authors find that the pandemic has had unprecedented implications for economic activity and has disproportionately affected women.

The G20 and development assistance for health: historical trends and crucial questions to inform a new era.

One of the most important gatherings of the world's economic leaders, the G20 Summit and ministerial meetings, takes place in June, 2019. The Summit presents a valuable opportunity to reflect on the provision and receipt of development assistance for health (DAH) and the role the G20 can have in shaping the future of health financing. The participants at the G20 Summit (ie, the world's largest providers of DAH, emerging donors, and DAH recipients) and this Summit's particular focus on global health and the Sustainable Development Goals offers a unique forum to consider the changing DAH context and its pressing questions. In this Health Policy perspective, we examined trends in DAH and its evolution over time, with a particular focus on G20 countries; pointed to persistent and emerging challenges for discussion at the G20 Summit; and highlighted key questions for G20 leaders to address to put the future of DAH on course to meet the expansive Sustainable Development Goals. Key questions include how to best focus DAH for equitable health gains, how to deliver DAH to strengthen health systems, and how to support domestic resource mobilisation and transformative partnerships for sustainable impact. These issues are discussed in the context of the growing effects of climate change, demographic and epidemiological transitions, and a global political shift towards increasing prioritisation of national interests. Although not all these questions are new, novel approaches to allocating DAH that prioritise equity, efficiency, and sustainability, particularly through domestic resource use and mobilisation are needed. Wrestling with difficult questions in a changing landscape is essential to develop a DAH financing system capable of supporting and sustaining crucial global health goals.

National health accounts data from 1996 to 2010: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To collect, compile and evaluate publicly available national health accounts (NHA) reports produced worldwide between 1996 and 2010. METHODS: We downloaded country-generated NHA reports from the World Health Organization global health expenditure database and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) StatExtract website. We also obtained reports from Abt Associates, through contacts in individual countries and through an online search. We compiled data in the four main types used in these reports: (i) financing source; (ii) financing agent; (iii) health function; and (iv) health provider. We combined and adjusted data to conform with OECD's first edition of A system of health accounts manual, (2000). FINDINGS: We identified 872 NHA reports from 117 countries containing a total of 2936 matrices for the four data types. Most countries did not provide complete health expenditure data: only 252 of the 872 reports contained data in all four types. Thirty-eight countries reported an average not-specified-by-kind value greater than 20% for all data types and years. Some countries reported substantial year-on-year changes in both the level and composition of health expenditure that were probably produced by data-generation processes. All study data are publicly available at http://vizhub.healthdata.org/nha/. CONCLUSION: Data from NHA reports on health expenditure are often incomplete and, in some cases, of questionable quality. Better data would help finance ministries allocate resources to health systems, assist health ministries in allocating capital within the health sector and enable researchers to make accurate comparisons between health systems.

Vaccine resource tracking systems.

BACKGROUND: From 1999 to 2010, annual disbursements of development assistance for health for vaccinations increased from $0.5 billion to $2.0 billion (all financial values USD 2010). In its 2012 Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), the World Health Assembly recommended establishing a comprehensive vaccination resource tracking system to better understand the source and recipients of these funds, and ultimately their impact on outcomes. This systematic review aims to respond to the GVAP recommendation in reviewing and assessing the state of the data and literature on vaccination resource tracking. METHODS: We scrutinized all relevant vaccination resource tracking systems identified in the literature and by practitioners in the field. We examined schemes used elsewhere in the health sector and by other sectors. Informant interviews were also conducted to determine what data exists and how it might be utilized. With this information, we completed a qualitative assessment of existing approaches to vaccination resources tracking. RESULTS: Tracking systems provide information about some vaccine-related activity in the majority of low- and middle-income countries. Data are generally available for the period of 2006-2010. Levels of granularity vary. Interviewees were concerned about the degree of rigor used to validate the data and the lack of verification. Data are often presented in tabular form, which may be unwieldy for non-technical audiences. CONCLUSIONS: The schemes currently in place to track the resources available for vaccinations were fairly advanced relative to other mechanisms in the health sector. Nonetheless, the coverage, validity, and accessibility of vaccination resource tracking data could be ameliorated. Establishing improved feedback loops and verification mechanisms that connect country-level administrators and the international organizations that support reporting efforts would enhance data quality.

Estimating health expenditure shares from household surveys.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the effects of household expenditure survey characteristics on the estimated share of a household's expenditure devoted to health. METHODS: A search was conducted for all country surveys reporting data on health expenditure and total household expenditure. Data on total expenditure and health expenditure were extracted from the surveys to generate the health expenditure share (i.e. fraction of the household expenditure devoted to health). To do this the authors relied on survey microdata or survey reports to calculate the health expenditure share for the particular instrument involved. Health expenditure share was modelled as a function of the survey's recall period, the number of health expenditure items, the number of total expenditure items, the data collection method and the placement of the health module within the survey. Data exists across space and time, so fixed effects for territory and year were included as well. The model was estimated by means of ordinary least squares regression with clustered standard errors. FINDINGS: A one-unit increase in the number of health expenditure questions was accompanied by a 1% increase in the estimated health expenditure share. A one-unit increase in the number of non-health expenditure questions resulted in a 0.2% decrease in the estimated share. Increasing the recall period by one month was accompanied by a 6% decrease in the health expenditure share. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of a survey instrument examined in the study affect the estimate of the health expenditure share. Those characteristics need to be accounted for when comparing results across surveys within a territory and, ultimately, across territories.