Blog Examines Results-Based Financing Approach For Global Health

“One recurring theme in forum and in the first panel [of the World Bank’s ‘Africa Health Forum: Finance & Capacity for Results’] was that results-based financing (RBF) — where financing is conditioned on achievement of results in health — is a key approach to driving value for money,” Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), and Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy at CGD write in the center’s “Global Health Policy” blog. “By linking payments to specific outcomes, RBF makes a donor more accountable to its constituencies and also increases the mutual accountability between the donor and the country by focusing the contract terms on shared goals and verified results,” they note, adding this is “a reason why RBF represents a paradigm shift in global health and development aid — from what might be called the ‘auditing and accounting paradigm’ to ‘performance and results paradigm.'” They discuss the RBF approach, highlight a number of obstacles to its implementation, and write, “The World Bank’s recent Africa Health Forum highlighted that the World Bank has somehow overcome these historical obstacles, and stands to be a trailblazer in RBF.” They add, “Other donor agencies such as PEPFAR and the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] need to take the courageous steps to a much needed paradigm shift” (5/2).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.