Denizhan Duran

Denizhan Duran works with research fellow Amanda Glassman, primarily focusing on priority-setting institutions, behavioral economics and aid effectiveness in global health. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Duran graduated cum laude from Middlebury College with a BA in economics and minors in political science and French. While at Middlebury, he wrote his honors thesis on evaluating the regional and gender-specific impact of the conditional cash transfer program in Turkey. He also spent a semester studying French and European Politics in Sciences Po, Paris.

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Love Thy Neighbor(s): The Need for Herd Immunity

January 26, 2012

As we posted recently, India had its first polio-free year, despite significantly lagging behind in other vaccinations. The economic losses of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD) to developing countries are tremendous: investing in vaccines in low- and middle-income countries would save 6.4 million children until 2020 – an investment valued at $231 billion. The same is true for developed economies: the United States has saved over $180 billion by becoming polio-free.

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The Spirit of GHI Lives!

December 20, 2011

By Denizhan Duran in Aid Effectiveness, GHI, Global Health Aid, Global Health Architecture and Governance, PEPFAR Tags: Aid Effectiveness, GHI

The United States budget for 2011; red area is global health aid (Source: xkcd)

This is a joint post with Amanda Glassman.

The verdict is out (sort of): the proposed total global health appropriation for FY2012 will be $8.3 billion; $600m less than 2011 appropriations, $38.3m higher than the enacted amount in 2011 and $1.5 billion less than requested funding. More than $5.5 billion of this funding is appropriated to HIV/AIDS; $1.05 billion of which are contributions to the Global Fund. A further $2.6 billion is appropriated for USAID to fulfill a portfolio of responsibilities from nutrition to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Some highlights:

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QuODA Health: Provide Your Input!

December 6, 2011

By Denizhan Duran in Global Health Aid Tags: Global Health Aid

At CGD we have taken a cue from our previous work in Quality of Official Development Assistance (QuODA), and have come up with a methodology for a evaluating the quality of health aid. The main goal of this exercise is to generate a discussion about quantitative sector-level aid effectiveness measures, and increase the possibility for accountability from donor organizations (read Amanda and Denizhan’s blog about the pros and cons of the index here).

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Conditional Cash Transfers, Version 2.0

October 27, 2011

By Denizhan Duran in Conditional Cash Transfers Tags: Conditional Cash Transfers

Although 75% of published evaluations on conditional cash transfer programs (CCT) are sourced from Latin America, newer CCT programs in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malawi, Pakistan, Tanzania and Nigeria are beginning to document, analyze and report results. This week, the World Bank brought a distinguished group together to discuss new findings, evaluation approaches and policy implications (see agenda here). Here are some highlights:

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Instead of a Man on the Moon, Why Not a Fully Vaccinated Kid?

August 15, 2011

By Denizhan Duran in Global Health, Global Health Aid Tags: Global Health Aid, LMICs, NCDs, Vaccines

This is a joint post with Amanda Glassman.

While the developed world commits itself to austerity measures and slashes aid budgets across the board, emerging economies are increasingly using foreign aid and direct investment to increase their soft power and global clout. In two articles this week, The Economist reports that India plans to set up its own aid agency. Once the world’s biggest aid recipient, India now plans to give $11.3 billion in the next five to seven years. While most of this sum is expected to be in the form of foreign direct investment, it also covers capacity building and humanitarian assistance for the poorest countries.