Investing in health research for endemic diseases

Abstract

The gap in resources for research for health to alleviate the major diseases of low income countries has been recognised for decades now and generally referred to as the 10/90 gap. Low income countries carry more than 90% of the global disease burden and have less than 10% of funds from public and private sources to deal with them. Unfortunately, efforts at moving the gap to even 20/80 have been frustrated by several factors not least of which is the inability of governments of low income countries to show commitment to solving the problem. Over the last three decades there have been major conferences and high level ministerial forums at which Ministers of Health have pledged 2% of their health care budget on research for health but most have failed to adhere to this undertaking. Development partners have also been enjoined to invest at least 5% of their development assistance to the health sector in research. It is unfortunate that in some instances donors will request for a demonstration of a governments fulfilment of the ministerial commitment before committing to the contribution from aid. While this may be a way to induce governments of low income countries to fulfil their commitment, it should be possible to establish an international peer review mechanism to encourage investment in research for health and the utilisation of knowledge derived from their own investment and that of other countries.