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UK funding for infectious diseases neglects most deadly illnesses
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Funding for infectious disease research in the United Kingdom overlooks some conditions that cause the highest rates of morbidity and mortality, recent data indicate.
“Infectious diseases account for 15 million deaths per year worldwide and disproportionately affect young people, elderly people and the poorest sections of society,” Michael Head, of the research department of infection and population health at the University College London, said in a press release. “The investments in research for these diseases must be allocated appropriately. Our data can help inform the decisions behind the allocations of funding and provide evidence for possible areas of underinvestment that warrant further attention.”
Michael Head
Head and colleagues searched for information on research studies from funding institutions, creating a database that included infectious disease research from 1997 to 2010. They categorized the studies and funding by disease and analyzed the relationship between research investment, mortality and disease burden by disability-adjusted life years.
They identified 6,170 studies with a research investment of 2.6 billion British pounds from noncommercial funding sources. Gastrointestinal infections accounted for approximately 22.2% of deaths due to infectious disease in 2004, but received only 9.7% of the overall funding. In comparison, HIV, which caused a similar amount of deaths, received almost double the funding: 17.7% of the total funding.
HIV, blood infections and respiratory infections received almost half of the funding and contributed to 71.7% of deaths due to infectious disease in 2004. The highest number of deaths was caused by respiratory infections, accounting for 43.5% of the deaths in 2004. However, respiratory infections received just 15.8% of the funding.
Antimicrobial resistance, a growing global problem, received just 3.7% of the funding. Infections in children received just 3.3% of the funding, and infections in the elderly received just 0.3% of the funding.
“Funding agencies and industry need to openly document their research investments to help redress any inequities in resource allocation,” Head said. “We should also be documenting investments from other countries in a similar manner in order to assess the total global investment in each disease against the burden it poses.”
Disclosure: The researchers reported relationships with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Infectious Disease Research Network, the Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, UCLH Charitable Foundation, the U.K. Department for International Development, the U.K. Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust.
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