Dr. Reich's research program addresses the political dimensions of public health policy. He is particularly interested in health and population policies of poor countries, the politics of policy-making processes, and pharmaceutical policy.
A major area of Dr. Reich's research examines access to medicines in developing countries. In 2002, he edited a book on public-private partnerships for public health (distributed by Harvard University Press). The volume includes case studies of partnerships involving specific diseases such as trachoma and river blindness, international organizations such as the World Health Organization, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and products such as medicines and vaccines. Individual chapters draw lessons from successful partnerships as well as troubled ones in order to help guide efforts to reduce global health disparities. In an article in Science (2000), he analyzed how public policies can be designed to address the global drug gap, the disparity in access to medicines between rich and poor countries. One of his previous research projects examined factors that affected access to praziquantel, the drug of choice for treatment of schistosomiasis. The study showed how interactions among four actors (pharmaceutical producers, international agencies, non-governmental agencies, and national governments) affected praziquantel availability in poor countries. He is currently working on a book (coauthored with Laura Frost) on strategies for improving access to health technologies in poor countries.
Dr. Reich has conducted various studies on the political economy of health policy reform, in both developed and developing countries. He has developed an applied research tool (a Windows-based software program) for analyzing the political dimensions of public policy. This tool, called PolicyMaker, provides a computer-assisted guide for strategic thinking about policy reform. The software leads the user through a step-by-step analysis of the policy content, positions and power of major players, opportunities and obstacles to policy change, and strategies for change. The method can be used for health policy reform as well as other areas of public policy. A free version of the software is available on the internet (www.polimap.com ).
Dr. Reich and collaborators have applied the method for analyzing health reform issues in more than ten countries, in collaboration with national governments and international agencies. The method is used in policy courses around the world, including the World Bank Flagship Course on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing. He recently coauthored a book, using the materials from this course, on how to improve the performance of health systems, entitled Getting Health Reform Right (by M.J. Roberts, W. Hsiao, P. Berman, and M.R. Reich, Oxford, 2004). He is currently working with the UNFPA to introduce this method of political analysis as a core competency in country offices, to facilitate policy reform related to the agency's mission in reproductive health.
During 2005-2006, while on sabbatical, he was a visiting professor at the National Institute of Public Health, in Cuernavaca, Mexico. During that time, he collaborated on various research projects in Mexico related to his research interests (pharmaceutical policy, health reform, political analysis, and road safety), and he continues working on those themes in Mexico.