Fourth Edition of Disease Control Priorities (DCP-4)
The World Bank and The University of Bergen have a partnership agreement for publishing the DCP-4.
Main content
The fourth edition of Disease Control Priorities (DCP-4) builds on a series of publications that started 3 decades ago by the World Bank. The University of Bergen will be hosting the Secretariat for this multi-year project that is led by Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS) director Ole F. Norheim and will include inputs from many other institutions around the world.
Disease Control Priorities 4 (DCP-4)
DCP4 builds on Disease Control Priorities 1 to 3 to help translate economic evidence into a better priority setting approach for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and intersectoral and international actions for health. This will be achieved through collaboration and capacity strengthening in a select group of Low-and-lower-middle income countries (LMICs). DCP4 will be relevant for all countries committed to increasing public finance of UHC and recognizing the need to set priorities on the path towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
DCP4 aims to:
Report on recent DCP country-led initiatives and lessons learned for disease control priorities, essential benefit package design, and implementation
- Evaluate global threats to health and policy preparedness and responses in areas such as pandemics, One Health, climate change, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Update and revise DCP3 essential UHC packages and intersectoral policies with new evidence, new analysis, and improved ways of reporting and interacting with country-led initiatives. Emphasis will be on primary care, health systems strengthening, equity and financial risk protection.
DCP4 will be published by the World Bank in four volumes:
Volume 1: Disease control priorities in practice
| Experience in selected countries |
| Lessons learned and ways forward |
| Other experience in setting and implementing selected packages |
Volume 2: Pandemic prevention, preparedness & response
| Introduction and background |
| Preparedness |
| Responses |
| Research and development |
| Ethics |
Volume 3: Interventions Outside the Healthcare System
Volume 4: Universal Health Coverage
Overview of previous editions:
DCP1 - Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries
In 1993, the first edition, DCP1, was published by the World Bank, providing a systematic analysis for Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) on how to allocate resources within the health sector. They advocated the use of cost-effectiveness analysis as the tool to identify interventions and policies that would tackle the most prevalent health problems.
DCP2 - Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries
The DCP2 was released in April 2006 and sought to update and improve the economic analyses and incorporate the institutional, organizational, financial, and scientific aspects needed for the delivery of health care interventions. Service delivery platforms were taken carefully into consideration and a more integrative approach was used for certain areas, such as school health systems, surgery, and childhood illness.
DCP3 - Disease Control Priorities 3
From 2010 to 2017, the University of Washington led the DCP3 and got more than 500 scholars, policymakers, and technical experts on board to work on the development of its 9 volumes. The first 8 volumes are organized around thematic areas, such as cancer and infectious disease, while the final volume is a compilation of the main recommendations on health priorities. New analytical methods were specifically developed for this edition and equity and financial risk protection were incorporated into the economic evaluation
