Global Health Policy
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January 28, 2008
Agriculture & ACTs: New USAID Working Paper
Posted by Jessica Pickett at 11:28 AM
The market for artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) for malaria is notoriously complicated, and has received a great deal of recent attention as the subject of the proposed Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria. But in order to truly understand the complexities involved - and the potential impact of donor interventions - the global health community would do well to consider the entire value chain for ACTs and the implications for the agricultural market as well. Over the past several years, an entire industry has emerged to supply the active biological ingredient, Artemisia annua, but has received relatively little attention from the malariologists, who have typically focused further downstream. USAID agricultural economist Dana Dalrymple has been following this topic closely and has summarized his findings and observations in an ongoing working paper, "Agriculture, Artemisia, ACTs and Malaria Control in Africa: The Interplay of Tradition, Science and Public Policy."
I highly recommend a thorough read of the most recent draft, which paints a truly comprehensive picture of the critical linkages between agricultural and medical market dynamics. As this is still a work in progress, Dr. Dalrymple warmly invites comments and suggestions from the broader global health community. Feedback should be sent to ddalrymple@usaid.gov.
Please consult Dr. Dalrymple before quoting, citing or reproducing any part of the paper.
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Comments
Economists frequently summarize the complex network of providers and producers which supply health care markets by simply assuming the existence of a supply curve with a given elasticity. Dalyrymple's paper is to be commended for showing us the complexity of the mechanism that lies behind these facile assumptions and the vulnerability of the mechanism to the uncertainty of future demand.
Posted by: Mead Over at January 28, 2008 03:32 PM