Events
Global Forum for Health Research meeting in Tanzania
Arusha, Tanzania- 14 November 2002: Global Forum 6 took place from 12 to 15 November 2002 in Arusha, with the National Institute for Medical Research as host partner. The meeting brought together hundreds of participants who debated the deficit in health research and health research capacity. Currently the majority of research funds are directed at the health priorities of the wealthy minority, the 10/90 gap.
At a session featuring the World Bank, the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health and the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health, the Chair, Lincoln Chen, Director of Harvard University’s Global Equity Initiative, reviewed progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Every UN agency, he said, the World Bank, multilateral and bilateral agencies, the G8 countries and the heads of state have committed to eight goals, four of which are linked to health: by 2015, to reduce the share of malnourished children by one-half; to cut the child death rate by two-thirds; to lower maternal deaths by three-quarters; and to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.
World Bank Director of Health, Nutrition and Population, Robert Hecht, noted that the Bank’s support to global health research had been in the region of US$ 250 million in the last decade, focusing on human reproduction, tropical diseases, AIDS vaccine and other vaccines, child health and health systems.
In his address to the meeting, CMH Executive Secretary, Sergio Spinaci, said that increased financing was not the only concern. He pointed out that the Commission’s Report also proposed strategy changes. Successful application of its recommendation requires bringing together ministries of finance and health and other key players, including those in civil society. Dr Spinaci referred to the evidence presented by the CMH Report as "of high significance, showing that investment in health can provide high social returns".
Gerald Keusch, Director of the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health, explored avenues for increasing international health research. He proposed an "International Institute of Health" which could take one of several possible forms: a common funding pool, a common research network, a new physical entity, or a virtual institute linking existing research institutions.