Health solutions developed in lower-income countries will help bring end to aid

Mar 27 2012

"It is not just quantity of aid that counts nowadays, but the quality and perspective of that aid, as well as innovation, investment and experience domestically," Jonathan Glennie, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog." Noting a newly released report from the Global Health Strategies initiatives (GSHi) that says the BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa -- are increasing their global health and development aid, Glennie continues, "Most of the BRICS are still developing countries in the traditional sense of that term, which means that they are combating extreme poverty, hunger and disease at home as well as in their aid programs." He adds, "This is the main characteristic that sets them apart from traditional donors and philanthropic mega-foundations."

Glennie cites examples of how Brazil, India, and China are contributing to social health interventions, generic drug production, and research and development. "The report concludes that the BRICS 'represent a potentially transformative source of new resources and innovation for global health and development,'" he writes, adding that while "[t]his is clearly true, ... there is one more step to take before such analyses count as truly radical." Glennie concludes, "When western audiences start to look to poorer countries for solutions in health and in other sectors, they will finally have moved on from the era of aid" (3/26).