Georgetown Infectious Disease Atlas (GIDA)

Publicizing funding for mutual accountability and the coordination of efforts.

Global health security (GHS) requires international and cross-sector partnerships to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. Ensuring adequate funding for health security initiatives is critical for the advancement of global health security and requires awareness of the current status of funding. The Georgetown Infectious Disease Atlas (GIDA) was developed to allow countries, NGOs, and policy experts to better understand who is funding what, and where, in the broad context of global health security. By mapping the flow of committed and disbursed funds for global health security, the tracking dashboard will provide the information necessary for users to:

  • Identify funding requirements
  • Develop a compelling case for investment
  • Prioritize future funding decisions
  • Promote a mutual accountability framework for GHS funding

To identify available data, we have completed a review of resources currently available to track GHS funding. Based on the contents of currently available data resources, a database structure was developed to capture information on donors, recipients, projects, and transactions. Funding data from 2014 to 2017 were accessed from the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) via a public API. Transactions were mapped to core capacities by using a lookup table and selected strings searches of project titles and descriptions.

Moving forward, countries will provide data using an online collection tool, which allows users to download a blank project report template. This template can be populated with transaction information offline and then re-uploaded into the tool. Data will be reviewed collaboratively through calls or in-person meetings to verify the accuracy and ensure transparency. Data updates will be requested annually, or whenever made available.

This publicly-available, shared resource will greatly facilitate the tracking of global health security funding commitments and disbursals, and encourage a mutual accountability framework. We hope the tool will provide a platform to highlight success stories, identify gaps, and communicate needs in region-specific and target-specific funding.

You can access the dashboard at https://gida.ghscosting.org/

Publications

Katz R.Graeden E., Kerr J., Eaneff S. (2019). Tracking the Flow of Funds in Global Health SecurityEcohealth, 1-8. DOI: 10.1007/s10393-019-01402-w. 

Eaneff S., Graeden E., Katz R. (2019). Capacity building under the International Health Regulations (2005): ramifications of new implementation requirements in second edition Joint External Evaluation. Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science & Security. 

Acknowledgements: We thank the research teams at the Center for Global Health Science & Security and at Talus Analytics for their support on this project. This project was funded through contributions from the Open Philanthropy Project.