Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting in Health– BCEPS
In 2019, the Trond Mohn Foundation (TMF) allocated NOK 35 million to establish the Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting in Health (BCEPS) at the University of Bergen (UiB). The Foundation joined forces with the Gates Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and UiB to channel NOK 122 million of funding into the Centre headed by Ole Frithjof Norheim, a professor at UiB and Harvard University.
BCEPS is based at the University of Bergen’s Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, where it develops new methods for evaluating health interventions and establishing priorities in global health. Its aim is to improve the way national health systems set priorities by promoting ethical, fair, and efficient approaches with the vision of achieving “better health for all, more fairly distributed.”
Funding from the Trond Mohn Foundation for the period 2019-2024 was directed towards providing decision support to the Ministries of Health in Ethiopia, Zanzibar and Malawi. Key partners included the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the University of Washington, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank (WB). As work progressed, BCEPS was able to attract additional funding from the Research Council of Norway and Norad for activities in India, Nepal, Tanzania, and Ghana. In 2023, BCEPS was awarded Centre of Excellence status by the Research Council of Norway and can look forward to expanding its theoretical and foundational research over a 10-year funding period.
The value added from being an established research centre is clear: multidisciplinary research, more staff, well-coordinated collaboration nationally and internationally, a more attractive workplace to meet and socialise, a conductive research environment, and the potential for more professional dissemination and outreach. BCEPS researchers frequently publish in high-impact journals, attract young talent from around the world, and serve on national and international expert committees.
Unique Group – Important Decision Support
– The Bergen group of researchers is unique because it combines advanced research in ethics and economics with local capacity building for better impact on the ground, says Damian Walker, Deputy Director of Data and Analytics at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
– Decision support to the government agencies of developing countries can help countries accelerate their achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, says Austen Davis, Senior Advisor, NORAD.
– An international partnership between funders for supporting research on priority setting is most welcome, both in Norway and globally, says John-Arne Røttingen, former Chief Executive of the Research Council of Norway.
Bringing Together Resources and Excellent Research
– In strengthening this important work by establishing BCEPS with a home base at the University of Bergen, we are in alignment with the strategic priorities of the University of Bergen and the Norwegian Government. If we can bring together resources and excellent research to improve health for people in need, we are doing something right, says Sveinung Hole, former CEO of the Trond Mohn Foundation.
Example of Concrete Project Results in Zanzibar
For an example of concrete project results, we can look to Zanzibar, where the project provided assistance to the Ministry of Health in a full revision of the Essential Health Care Package (EHCP). More information about the Zanzibar project can be found on the project page: https://www.uib.no/en/bceps/130753/uhc-zanzibar.
OTHER RELEVANT LINKS:
- BCEPS Website (with more project information and results)
BCEPS in brief
Programme period: 2019-2024
Host institution: University of Bergen
Centre Director: Professor Ole Frithjof Norheim
TMF-funding: NOK 35.5 million
Professor Ole Frithjof Norheim Photo: Kim E. Andreassen, UiB
