February 23, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
United States Investment in Global Health Research, by Mary Woolley, Stacie M. Propst, and Emily T. Connelly, reports on surveys conducted by Research!America in 2004 to determine what the public thinks about public-health issues around the globe. The polls showed widespread support for increased spending on medical research, with 71 percent of Americans saying the United States spends too little on such research. A majority of Americans said they thought research on HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, such as influenza, tuberculosis, and SARS, should be the top global-health priorities. The study also analyzes where the $9.5-billion spent on medical research in 2003 originated, with the pharmaceutical industry spending the most, pouring $5.5-billion into research coffers. However, the report notes that foundations have increasingly been key players in supporting such research, allocating $505-million for global-health research and development in 2003. Most significantly, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributed $322-million toward that total.
Publisher: Research!America, 1101 King Street, Suite 520, Alexandria, Va. 22314; (703) 739-2577 or (800) 366-2873; fax (703) 739-2372; info@researchamerica.org; http://www.researchamerica.org; 8 pages; available free for download on the organization’s Web site.
