Source description last updated: 21 January 2020

In brief: Health Action International (HAI) is an Amsterdam-based non-profit foundation that seeks to make safe, effective, affordable and quality-assured medicines available to everyone

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Medicine Prices, Availability and Affordability surveys (published by HAI Europe) and Medicine Price Monitors (published by HAI Africa)

Covered quarterly on ecoi.net, for countries of priorities A-E (all available countries).

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

“Health Action International (HAI) was founded by a group of medicine policy experts in 1981 to counter the rapidly increasing influence of the pharmaceutical industry.” HAI’s network partners include HAI Europe Association, Medico International, Oxfam as well as a number of scholars working in the field of medicine and public health” (HAI website: History, undated).

Aiming to achieve its “vision of a world with safe, effective, affordable and quality-assured medicines for everyone, everywhere”, HAI’s staff and global network conduct research and advocacy to advance policies that enable access to medicines and rational medicines use for all people around the world.” (HAI website: Vision, Mission & Impact, undated)

HAI’s core values are social justice, transparency, integrity, evidence-based work, empowerment of underprivileged groups, perseverance, inclusion and excellence. (HAI website: Vision, Mission & Impact, undated)

In order to form its policy recommendations, the HAI “conduct[s] and draw[s] upon independent, robust and impartial research.” (HAI: Annual Report 2018, p. 7)

The HAI Foundation Board ensures compliance of activities with the foundation’s vision and mission and is accountable for its “strategy, activities and performance. It also oversees management. […] The Board meets regularly throughout the year.“ (HAI website: Governance, undated)

Funding:

In 2018, HAI’s total income amounted to 2,774,095 EUR (HAI: 2018 Annual Report, May 2019, p. 27).

Donors who contributed to HAI’s income from 2014 to 2018 include the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the European Commission (specifically the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency, CHAFEA), the IDA Charity Foundation, Open Society Foundations (OSF), the Camino Stiftung, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank and miscellaneous grants and contracts (HAI: Donors 2014-2018, May 2019).

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: all countries

Thematic focus: safety, efficacy, availability and prices of medical products

Methodology:

Prices, Availability surveys involve data collection on specific medical products by researchers visiting local healthcare facilities. The areas to be surveyed may be selected randomly (HAI: Sexual and Reproductive Health Commodities: Availability, Affordability and Stock-Outs; Uganda, 2018, p. 7), although consideration may be given to “urban/rural mix, geographic spread” etc.

The availability of medicines may be assessed on the basis of “whether the medicine was in the outlet on the day of data collection”, while prices may be “analysed in various ways, including by product type” (HAI: Prices & Availability of Locally Produced & Imported Medicines in Kenya, July 2018, pp. 8-10).

Languages of publication:

English, French

 

All links accessed 21 January 2020.