Publications relating to health R&D

This section provides an overview of the reports of several working groups and committees of experts whose recommendations are, either directly or indirectly, related to the Global Observatory on Health R&D.

Research and development to meet health needs in developing countries: Strengthening global financing and coordination

Report of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (2012). This focuses on the financing and coordination of R&D to meet the needs of developing countries for new products such as medicines, vaccines and diagnostics. It outlines recommendations for financing and recommendations for coordination of R&D investments (such as the development of a mechanism to improve the measurement of the volume, type and distribution of relevant R&D, and to evaluate R&D outcomes). 

Research and development - coordination and financing

Report by the WHO Expert Working Group on Research and Development. This was published in 2010 in response to the request of the World Health Assembly in WHA resolution 61.21. It is based on three sources of evidence: published literature for the analysis of financing; qualitative research for the coordination of research and development financing and research; and an evaluation tool to evaluate innovative health research and development financing proposals.

Public health innovation and intellectual property rights

Report by the independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (2006) on the relationships between intellectual property rights, innovation and public health. Recommendations aim to promote innovation relevant to the needs of sick people in developing countries and the accessibility of healthcare products in developing countries.

Macroeconomics and health: investing in health for economic development

Report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (December 2001). Among other points, the report stresses the need for “investments in global public goods, including increased collection and analysis of epidemiological data, surveillance of infectious diseases, and research and development into diseases that are concentrated in poor countries (often, though not exclusively, tropical diseases).” To help achieve this, the report recommends the allocation of US$ 3 billion to R&D for diseases of the poor, including a UD$ 1.5 billion Global Health Research Fund.

Health research: essential link to equity in development 

Report of the Commission on Health Research for Development (1990). This report is well-known for its finding that an estimated 93% of the world’s burden of preventable mortality occurred in developing countries, while only 5% of the total global investments in health R&D were devoted specifically to the health problems of these countries. The term ‘10/90-gap’ was later coined to describe this gap.