Center for Global Development’s “Global Health Policy Blog”: Where Does WHO Get Its Economic Advice?
In this blog post, Amanda Glassman, chief operating officer, senior fellow, and Board secretary at CGD, argues that the WHO should appoint its own chief economist, writing, “[T]oo often, the rhetoric and recommendations coming from some parts of WHO show so little understanding of basic health economics that we may be doing more harm than good. … [W]hat needs to happen to bring more rigor to health economics advice from WHO? In my view, WHO needs its own chief economist — to assure that targets, guidelines, lists, and policies all benefit from fifty years of theory and empirical evidence that have informed the better health systems of the world in their quest for [Universal Health Coverage (UHC)]” (6/7).