[Ip-health] 'New philanthropists' making impact on health research

[Ira Glazer]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061026/hl_afp/healthresearch&printer=1

by Jean-Marc Mojon

Philanthropist organisations are making an impact in shifting the focus
of health research funding towards developing countries but the
rich-poor gap remains huge, said a new report.

Annual global spending on health research and development reached 125.8
billion dollars in 2003, up from 105.9 billion in 2001, said the report
released by the Global Forum for Health Research on Thursday.

"According to our recent tracking, the amount is going up by about 10
billion a year," said Stephen Matlin, co-author of the report which was
made public in Cairo ahead of the organisation's annual meeting.

The Geneva-based organisation is the only one to collect data on global
health funding and statistics generally take two years to compile as
they are not readily provided by governments.

According to the report, 45 percent of funding comes from the public
sector, 48 percent from the private for-profit sector and seven percent
from not-for-profit organisations.

Matlin said a key issue was the fate of developing countries, where the
traditional burden of infectious diseases is being compounded by the
recent spread of the non-communicable diseases that have long been the
priority of developed countries.

"New funding sources like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have
begun making very substantial contributions in tackling some of the most
serious health problems found in developing countries," Matlin said.

He said the Microsoft supremo's foundation had committed 6.5 billion
dollars to health research since its establishment in 2000 and added
that funding should further rise following this year's donation to the
Gates' philanthropic organisation of US investment tycoon Warren
Buffet's massive fortune.

"We still need drugs and vaccines to combat a number of the infectious
diseases that are major problems around the world," Matlin said.

"But at the same time, very little research is being done on how to
translate that into what's practical for developing countries," he added.

The British professor also sounded alarm bells over "the massive
increase in the number of people who have cars in developing countries,"
where road traffic accidents are the fourth leading cause of death in
adults aged 15-59.

The report will be presented to some 500 health officials and leading
experts during the four-day conference kicking off in Cairo on October 29.

"There used to be an argument that better health would be a natural
by-product of economic development, a trickle-down theory that if
countries get richer, people get healthier," Matlin said.

"It is now much more clearly understood that ill health is actually a
break on development and greatly reduces GDP growth in countries that
suffer serious health problems," he explained.

The organisation is funded by the World Bank, the Rockefeller foundation
and the governments of Canada, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Ireland,
Mexico and India.