Neglected diseases see cut in research funding: Report


Lazarus Sauti

Total funding for research and development on neglected diseases has suffered major cuts in the wake of the global financial crisis.

This is according to the fourth Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases (G-FINDER) report.

The report found that year-on-year funding for neglected disease research and development decreased by 3.5 percent (US$109 million) from 2009 to 2010 - the first overall decrease since the survey began in 2007.

The decrease resulted from lower contributions by the public sector, which still provided almost two-thirds of global funding in 2010, as well as by the philanthropic sector.

Javier Guzman, director of research at Policy Cures, an independent non-profit research group based in Australia which published the report, said: “It is much worse than what we expected. Not so much because of the money itself, but because we saw cuts from [so many funders] - and we did not anticipate that.”

Guzman added: “Eight of the top 12 neglected disease funders have cut back their investment.

“We saw a very nice golden age, a very nice peak, but it was coming from very fewpeople, very few aid agencies.

“Now these agencies are in trouble [and] we see the impact clearly.”

The report also stated that research into diseases that rely on investment from public and philanthropic sectors - such as HIV and AIDS, malaria and diarrhoeal diseases - were hit the hardest, with funding for HIV and AIDS research decreasing by five per cent.

In contrast, diseases with substantial funding from industry, including tuberculosis and dengue, were largely protected.

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