Research Imbalances: Taking Science to the Problem (A Prescription for the World: INTERNATIONAL HEALTH‪)‬

The Commission on Health Research for Development based at Harvard University demonstrated in a landmark 1990 study that less than 10 percent of the world's resources for health research were being devoted to 90 percent of the world's health problems. This disparity has since become known as the "10/90 Gap." The 1990s saw considerable efforts to address this significant mismatch between funds for research and the significant burden of disease in developing countries. Some of the advances included a threefold increase in global resources for health research put forward by institutions in both the private sector and the public sector, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and from large philanthropic foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Equally important was the establishment of networks to lobby for increased support, such as the Global Forum for Health Research, as well as the establishment of more public-private partnerships to implement programs and develop new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for diseases of importance in developing countries. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]