The GRADE

Overall goals

The GRADE project models the impact of government revenue on outcomes including access to critical determinants of health and mortality in order to give a sense of the potential if leakages, such as tax avoidance, from government revenues, are curtailed.

There is a non-linear relationship between revenue per capita and mortality which is practically very important. Countries with lower levels of revenue per capita will witness substantial increases in survival if additional revenues become available, i.e. gains are greater at low levels of government revenue per capita.

Key UK Colleagues and Partners

The project is cross-disciplinary and led by the Division of Infection and Global Health, the School of Medicine, the University of St Andrews and the School of Business, the University of Leicester.
It was carried out in collaboration with colleagues from the following institutions; the School of Mathematics and Statistics, the University of Glasgow, the Overseas Development Institute, London, UK, the Division of Education, the School of Medicine, the University of St Andrews, the Oxford Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, the University of Oxford, UK

International Partners

The Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, the College of Medicine, the University of Malawi, Malawi.
The Department of Economics, Chancellor College, University of Malawi.
The Center for Data Science, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Province, P. R. China, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, The International Vaccine Access Center, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, MD, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Sustainable development goals

• SDG 3 - Good health and well-being
• SDG 4 - Quality education
• SDG 6 - Clean water and sanitation
• SDG 7 - Affordable and clean energy

Funding source

The Scottish Funding Council supported this work (Official Development Assistance research allocation for 2017-2018: Global Challenges Research Fund)

Project origin

This project evolved from work done by the Division of Infection and Global Health at St Andrews and the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, the College of Medicine, the University of Malawi, Malawi.

Evidence of need

While it is known that increased income is associated with improved outcomes in terms of health and welfare, the relationship between government revenue and outcomes has not been clearly established and this could be increased if, for example, tax avoidance and debt service are reduced.

Project areas

This work will contribute to policy decisions and advocacy.

Project activities

The modelling is complete and available on the GRADE website. The underpinning research is available here, see Government Revenue and Child and Maternal Mortality.

Changes

The use of the model to support environmental, social and governance decisions by investors, policymakers and advocates.

Next steps

To use the GRADE  to predict the potential reduction in mortality if leaks from government revenue are curtailed and to do this one country at a time.

We collaborate with academics, advocates and policymakers to produce country-specific predictions and policies.

We currently collaborate with the Paediatric and Child Health Association in Malawi (PACHA).

Challenges

Finding colleagues with shared interests and skills.

Mitigating challenges

A forum where partnerships could post their 'wish lists' to facilitate collaboration.

Partnership principles

• strategic
• harmonised
• effective
• respectful
• organised
• responsible
• flexible

Project gains

• teamwork
• awareness
• academic