Private Aid for Global Health-Care Efforts Dropped as the Economy Soured

American charities that provide health care to poor people overseas have been hit hard by the recession, according to a study released Tuesday.

Cash gifts from private donors for nonprofits’ global health work dropped by 33 percent from 2008 to 2010, according to the study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, in Seattle. Corporate donations of medicines and equipment dropped by 59 percent in that time, although the decrease was due in part to a new method the researchers used to measure the value of products.