Priority Setting: Right Answer to a Far Too Narrow Question?; Comment on “Global Developments in Priority Setting in Health”

Document Type : Commentary

Author

School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, University Boulevard, Stockton-on-Tees, UK

Abstract

In their recent editorial, Baltussen and colleagues provide a concise summary of the prevailing discourse on priority-setting in health policy. Their perspective is entirely consistent with current practice, yet they unintentionally demonstrate the narrowness and moral precariousness of that discourse and practice. I respond with demonstrations of the importance of ‘interrogating scarcity’ in a variety of contexts.

Keywords

Main Subjects


  1. Baltussen R, Mitton C, Danis M, Williams I, Gold M. Global Developments in Priority Setting in Health. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017;6(3):127-128. doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2017.10
  2. Gornall J, Hoey A, Ozieranski P. A pill too hard to swallow: how the NHS is limiting access to high priced drugs. BMJ. 2016;354:i4117. doi:10.1136/bmj.i4117
  3. Garnham JJ, Scott HNA. Soaring cost of patented medication affects NHS resource allocation. BMJ. 2015; 351:h5114. doi:10.1136/bmj.h5114
  4. Gøtzsche PC. Big pharma often commits corporate crime, and this must be stopped. BMJ. 2012;345:e8462.
  5. Almashat S, Wolfe SM, and Carome M. Twenty-Five Years of Pharmaceutical Industry Criminal and Civil Penalties: 1991 Through 2015. Washington, DC: Public Citizen; 2016. https://www.citizen.org/documents/2311.pdf.
  6. Chang H-J. Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective. London: Anthem Press; 2002.
  7. Sell SK. Private Power, Public Law: The Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2003:96.
  8. Maynard A. Shrinking the state: The fate of the NHS and social care. J R Soc Med. 2017;110:49-51.
  9. Taylor-Gooby P. Root and Branch Restructuring to Achieve Major Cuts: The Social Policy Programme of the 2010 UK Coalition Government. Soc Policy Adm. 2012;46:61-82. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9515.2011.00797.x
  10. Johnson P. Autumn Statement briefing 2014: Introductory remarks. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies; 2014. http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/budgets/as2014/as2014_johnson.pdf.
  11. Centre on Global Health Security Working Group on Health Financing. Shared Responsibilities for Health: A Coherent Global Framework for Health Financing, Chatham House Report. London: Chatham House; 2014. http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20140521HealthFinancing.pdf.
  12. Reeves A, Gourtsoyannis Y, Basu S, McCoy D, McKee M, Stuckler D. Financing universal health coverage: effects of alternative tax structures on public health systems: cross-national modelling in 89 low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet. 2015;386(9990):274-280. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60574-8
  13. Mudur G. Experts question how India will meet promises on public health after cut in budget for 2015-16. BMJ. 2015;350:h1244. doi:10.1136/bmj.h1244
  14. Rowden R. West Africa's Financial Immune Deficiency. Foreign Policy. 2014 October 30. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/30/west_africas_financial_immune_deficiency_ebola_imf.
  15. People's Health Movement. Ebola epidemic exposes the pathology of the global economic and political system, PHM Position Paper.  http://www.phmovement.org/sites/www.phmovement.org/files/phm_ebola_23_09_2014final_0.pdf. Published 2014.
  16. Kentikelenis A, King L, McKee M, Stuckler D. The International Monetary Fund and the Ebola outbreak. Lancet Glob Health. 2015;3:e69-e70.
  17. Forstater M. Gaps in Trade Data do not equal Criminal Money Laundering. Center for Global Development website. http://www.cgdev.org/blog/gaps-trade-data-criminal-money-laundering. Published 2017.
  18. Baker R, Cardamone T, Kar D, Pogge T, Solheim E, eds. Illicit Financial Flows: The Most Damaging Economic Condition Facing the Developing World. Washington, DC: Global Financial Integrity; 2015. http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ford-Book-Final.pdf.
  19. High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa. Illicit Financial Flows: Report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa. Addis Ababa: AU/ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; 2015.
  20. Kar D, Schjelderup G. Financial Flows and Tax Havens: Combining to Limit the Lives of Billions of People. Global Financial Integrity website. http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Financial_Flows-final.pdf. Published 2016.
  21. Pedrique B, Strub-Wourgaft N, Some C, et al. The drug and vaccine landscape for neglected diseases (2000-11): a systematic assessment. Lancet Glob Health. 2013;1:e371-e379. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(13)70078-0
  22. Vakili K, McGahan AM. Health care's grand challenge: stimulating basic science on diseases that primarily afflict the poor. Academy of Management Journal. 2016;59:1917-39.
  23. Rid A, Littlejohns P, Wilson J, Rumbold B, Kieslich K, Weale A. The importance of being NICE. J R Soc Med. 2015;108:385-389.
  24. Schrecker T. Interrogating scarcity: how to think about "resource-scarce settings." Health Policy Plan. 2013;28:400-409. doi:10.1093/heapol/czs071
  25. Klein R. Rationing in the fiscal ice age. Health Economics, Policy and Law. 2010;5:389-396.
  26. Edwards N, Crump H, Dayan M. Rationing in the NHS. London: Nuffield Trust; 2015:8.
  27. Ham C. Next steps on the NHS five year forward view. BMJ. 2017;357:j1678. doi:10.1136/bmj.j1678.
  28. Campbell D. Record number of people undergoing amputations because of diabetes. Guardian. July 15, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/15/rise-diabetes-amputations-figures.
  29. Green M, Dorling D, Minton J. The geography of a rapid rise in elderly mortality in England and Wales, 2014-15. Health Place. 2017;44:77-85.