Recent updates

• Global funding analysis of R&D investments for pneumonia!

• We are delighted to publish new findings from the Research Investments in Global Health study, hosted by the University of Southampton and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The report, entitled ‘Sizing up pneumonia research’ summarises public and philanthropic investment for pneumonia-related research by the G20 countries between 2000 and 2015. It provides analysis of investment trends over time, the geography of pneumonia research funding, and levels of investment in specific priority areas such as paediatric, antimicrobial resistance and vaccine-focused research.

  Overall, $3 billion of pneumonia-related research investment is described here, covering over 2000 studies from dozens of different funders. Despite the very high mortality (almost 1 million deaths per year, mostly in children aged under 5 in resource-poor settings), the volume of research into pneumonia is low, and the ‘Big Three’ of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis all receive greater levels of funding compared to their respective burden of disease. Pneumonia has been historically neglected by the global health community, and it’s time for that to change. Our analyses inform the evidence base around resource allocation and provide a platform for further multi-disciplinary stakeholder discussions including policymakers, funders, researchers and clinicians.

  See http://researchinvestments.org/pneumonia/ for the full report.

  

• An afternoon of global health with ResIn and RSTMH

• Free event – An afternoon of global health with ResIn and RSTMH
  Monday 18 September, 3:15pm – 4:45pm
  University of Southampton, Highfield Campus
  All welcome!

  Click here to register

  Preceded by a brief introduction from Professor David Wilson, Associate Dean for Internationalisation, this event will include two talks –

  a) Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Strategy Launch – RSTMH Chief Executive, Tamar Ghosh, will present the Society’s new strategy, including information about several new activities including mentoring, education and training. There will also be time to discuss the benefits of RSTMH membership which include journal access, a calendar of scientific and social events, plus a well-established grants round.

  b) Presentation of the results of the Southampton-led Research Investments in Global Health Study (ResIn).
  Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and enthusiastically received by (among others) the World Health Organisation, Dr’s Michael Head and Rebecca Brown have analysed 16 years of data on global infectious disease funding. How much funding goes to HIV research compared to tuberculosis? Is pneumonia an under-funded and neglected area? What does the research landscape look like for malaria investments in sub-Saharan Africa? What can we learn from the historical financing of research for Ebola? What should the research landscape look like going forward, and how should we in the global health community be setting future priorities?

  This event is open to colleagues both within the University of Southampton and externally. Everybody is welcome!

  Location – Senate Room, 4th floor, building 37, Highfield campus of the University of Southampton.

  Webpage to register – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-afternoon-of-global-health-with-resin-and-rstmh-tickets-36099988036

  Click here for a pdf flyer of the event. 

  

• ResIn original research in Lancet Global Health – malaria investments in Africa

• The latest analysis from the Research Investments in Global Health study has been published in The Lancet Global Health. This work covered malaria investments for R&D and funding for malaria control, and focused on their geographical distribution around sub-Saharan Africa.

  Our research showed that countries that receive higher levels of funding for malaria-related research also typically receive higher levels of funding for malaria control (non-research investments). Thus, nations such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are relatively well-funded compared to nations such as Chad, Central African Republic and Sierra Leone. We discuss some of the likely reasons for this and consider further analyses that underpin these findings, and add pragmatic commentary on potential ways forward.

  The paper is open-access and available here. Suggested citation –

  Head MG, Goss S, Gelister Y et al. Inequalities in investments: a systematic analysis of global funding trends for malaria research in sub-Saharan Africa. The Lancet Global Health. 2017. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30245-0