The 10/90 Report on Health Research 2001-2002

Of the US$73 billion spent globally every year on health research only about 10% is actually allocated for research into 90% of the world’s health problems. This is what is known as the 10/90 gap. This third landmark report of the Global Forum for Health Research underlines the crucial role that health and health research funding plays in breaking the cycle of poverty.

The report covers progress towards narrowing this gap over the past two years and outlines plans for the coming years. It focuses on:

• the crucial role of health and health research in the fight against poverty
• progress in the definition of priorities for health research
• the development of partnerships and networks in key research areas
• the application of a new tool for developing the priority research agenda

The report stresses that prioritisation of health research spending at the global and national levels is a necessity if research funds are to have the greatest impact possible on the level of world health. However, it also notes that setting priorities in terms of individual diseases is not enough and that cross-cutting influences such as the capacity of a country to deliver health services, the necessity to look at gender differences, behaviour and lifestyles harmful to health, and environmental problems like indoor air pollution must also be considered.The report outlines four main priority areas for health research:

• research on diseases and conditions
• research on determinants and risk factors
• research on priority-setting methodologies
• research on policies and cross-cutting issues on matters affecting health research