ABSTRACT
The past decade witnessed a rapid rise in development assistance for improving health in low-and middle-income countries. The emergence of several new global health players from outside the traditional nexus of bilateral agencies, multilateral organisations, and development banks that dominated the international aid scene in previous decades has accompanied this growth in resources. The dramatic increase in global health financing and the recipients of these dollars have garnered much attention from global health experts and have resulted in great speculation about the effectiveness of aid (Farmer and Garrett 2007; Farrar 2007; Garrett 2007; Moyo 2009; Scheiber et al. 2007) and the impact of new global health initiatives (Brugha et al. 2002; Lim et al. 2008). Currently, many anticipate a decline in funding levels as a result of the global recession (Kaiser Family Foundation 2008; Marmot and Bell 2009; McNeil 2009; UN News Service 2008).
