Rethinking aid allocation: Analysis of official development spending on modern pollution reduction

Abstract

Background: Modern pollution – pollution attributable to industrialization and urbanization – is responsible for nearly 6 million deaths per year, more than all the deaths from HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined; yet it receives comparatively little attention in the international development agenda [1]. Objective/Methods: This study attempts to highlight the funding disparity between select key threats to global health by quantifying the levels of international official development aid (ODA) allocated to reducing pollution’s negative impact on human health using a new metric – dollars spent per death caused by health threat. Findings: Using only reported ODA spending for 2016, we calculate an average investment of $14/death for modern pollution, compared with $1,250/death for malaria, $190/death for tuberculosis, and $165/death for HIV/AIDS. Conclusions: Although there are substantive limitations to this analysis, results are sufficient to galvanize action to better monitor and track investments in modern pollution reduction. Donor countries have failed to respond to this urgent public health crisis. Given the severity of its public health burden, there is a critical need for funding to be allocated specifically to pollution reduction.