[e-drug] Health research divide

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E-drug: Health research divide
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BMJ 2001;323:886 (20 October 2001)

Progress is slow in narrowing the health research divide 
Kamran Abbasi, BMJ 

Progress has been slow in addressing the research needs of the
developing world, speakers and delegates at last week's fifth global
forum for health research in Geneva conceded. 

The aim of the conference was to assess progress in addressing the
disparity between the global burden of disease and health research
in the world's poorest countries. This is the so called 10/90 gap,
whereby only 10% of the estimated yearly ?47bn ($70bn) spent on
health research is used to research 90% of the world's health
problems. 

"Things have moved on but maybe not as much as we expected
them to," admitted Somsak Chunharas from the department of
medical sciences in Thailand's ministry of public health. "We've
talked, discussed a lotperhaps that's rightbut the question is how
do we go about global governance?" 

Delegates were concerned that although last year's forum in
Bangkok ended on a high notewith decisions having been taken to
work on national, regional, and global levels to correct the 10/90
gapone year later there was little to show for it. 

Several more countries now had research councils, and others had
strengthened or reinvigorated theirs, but global coordination was
still lacking. A major component of the initiatives arising from the
Bangkok conference was the formation of a working party under
the auspices of the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the
Global Forum for Health Research, and the Council for Health
Research and Development. 

The working party's mandate was to address global governance
issues and undertake stewardship functions. It was to reflect the
spirit of the conference, represent its constituents, and be
independent. Delegates were told that, as yet, all that had been set
up was an interim working party that would decide on the members
and agenda for the working party proper. 

Delegates aired concerns that the working party was unlikely to be
representative if all it did was co-opt participants from global health
conferences, because an inability to attend such gatherings could
well equate with need. Another criticism was that so much focus
on the global response to the disparity in health research ran the
risk of neglecting national activities, which was ultimately where
reform had to happen. More attention was needed to develop an
implementation mechanism for global strategies, said delegates. 

Dr Tikki Pang, director of research policy and cooperation at the
WHO, pointed to some successful initiatives for poor countries,
including health research awards aimed at improving research
environments, free access to medical publications and information,
and workshops on evaluating the performance of health research
systems. It was also likely that a future world health report,
probably 2004, would be devoted to health research. 

The sixth global forum will take place in Tanzania in November
2002. More information can be found at
www.globalforumhealth.org 


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