Flows of financial resources for health research and development in Brazil, 2000–2002
Cid Manso de Mello Vianna, Rosângela Caetano, José Antonio Ortega, Luiz Otávio de Figueiredo Façanha, Gabriela Bittencourt Gonzalez Mosegui, Marien Siqueira, Tiago Barros Costa
Objective
To map and measure the flows of financial resources for health research and development in Brazil for the years 2000–2002.
Methods
After adapting the methodology developed for the Center for Economic Policy Research, data were collected on the sources and uses of resources for health research and development.
Results
The annual average value of resources apportioned to health research and development was approximately US$ 573 million. The public sector as a whole invested US$ 417.3 million and the health department US$ 51.1 million. Expressed in percentages, the public sector invested 4.15% of the health department’s budget although the Ministry of Health assigned only 0.3% of its budget to health research in the country. The universities and the research institutes are the main users of the resources allocated to health research and development, receiving 91.6% of the total public spending, while the private sector receives a small share of around 0.69% of the total. The private sector invested US$ 135.6 million per year, and the international organizations US$ 20.1 million per year.
Conclusion
Besides measuring the financial resources made available for health research and development, the results allowed the filling of gaps in national information; the identification of the flows of applied financial resources; and the testing and adaptation of the proposed methodology, generating information suitable for international comparisons.