10/90 Report on Health Research 2000
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Geneva, 2 May 2000
The Global Forum for Health Research today publishes its 10/90 Report
on Health Research 2000.
Global spending on health research by both the public and private
sectors amounts to about US$ 56 billion per year (1992 estimate).
However, less than 10% of this is devoted to 90% of the world's
health problems - a misallocation often referred to as "the 10/90
gap". For example, it is estimated that pneumonia, diarrhoea, tuber-
culosis and malaria, which together account for more than 20% of the
disease burden in the world, receive less than 1% of the total public
and private funds devoted to health research. The human and economic
costs of such misallocation of resources are enormous.
The need for global prioritisation in health research was first
raised in the 1990 Report of the Commission on Health Research for
Development, Health Research: Essential Link to Equity for Develop-
ment. This led to the creation in 1994 of the Ad Hoc Committee on
Health Research Relating to Future Intervention Options, which pub-
lished its Report under the auspices of the World Health Organization
(WHO) in September 1996. Among the 17 recommendations made by the
Committee to help correct the 10/90 gap was the creation of the
Global Forum for Health Research.
This took place in June 1997 (Forum 1) with the participation of
about 100 institutions, including government policy-makers, WHO, the
World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, multilateral and bilateral
development institutions, research institutions, NGOs involved in
health research, women's organizations and private-sector companies.
The Secretariat of the Global Forum for Health Research, located at
the headquarters of the WHO, started its operations in January 1998.
In June 1998, the Global Forum for Health Research was registered as
a Foundation, governed by a Foundation Council of 20 members repre-
senting the main partners in the Forum.
The 10/90 Report on Health Research 2000 is the second annual report
of the Global Forum for Health Research. It describes the progress
made by the partners in the Global Forum in the past year to help
correct the 10/90 gap by focusing on research activities and initia-
tives that address health problems of middle and lower income coun-
tries and generating funds to support these initiatives. It also de-
scribes priorities for the years ahead. Its audience is all those who
can help change, in whatever way, the imbalance in the allocation of
health research funding: those who fund research, those who set pri-
orities, those who influence decision-making, those who provide in-
formation and evidence.
Copies of the 10/90 Report on Health Research 2000 are available free
of charge from:
The Global Forum
mailto:info@globalforumhealth.org
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