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, tuberculosis 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 prioritization 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 Development. This led to the
creation in 1994 of the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Research Relating to
Future Intervention Options, which published 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 representing 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 initiatives that address
health problems of middle and lower income countries and generating funds
to support these initiatives. It also describes 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 priorities, those who influence decision-making,
those who provide information and evidence.

Copies of the 10/90 Report on Health Research 2000 are available free of
charge from the Global Forum. Contact: [log in to unmask]