Seeking donor funding to attempt to improve patient access to expensive drugs and services is nothing new. Aid and donor contributions have been the mainstay of the developed world approach to providing evelopment to developing countries. This approach has been compellingly criticised as ‘Dead Aid’ in that it does not improve circumstances for developing country poor. Despite this fact, the pressure to secure donor funding is both current and ongoing. In addition to failing to provide targeted improvements, donor funding generates other unintended consequences, which are sub optimal. This paper reviews the donor funding approach to solving medical problems and identifies a number of negative consequences in both the seeking and distribution of donor funds. The medical problem of snakebite is utilised to provide some useful examples of the pitfalls and potential tactical responses to improve the process.  

Keywords Funding, Health Economics, Snake Bites, World Health Organisation, Antivenoms, Epidemiology.