Tapping the power of small institutions

摘要

Research and development (R&D) into health is increasingly recognized as critically important in the fight against the major causes of morbidity and mortality among poor people in developing countries. Although this may seem self-evident, it is a striking statement, as health (and health R&D) has only been recognized as a global development goal since 1993, when World Development Report: Investing in Health was published. After this report, a World Health Organization (WHO) committee suggested priorities and made recommendations for the mobilization of national, international and private-sector R&D support to ensure scientific and technological progress in these areas. Most recently, the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH), chaired by Jeffrey Sachs, made concrete proposals to push this agenda still further. Significantly, the commission defined health R&D as a "global public good" thus emphasizing the collective benefit that could be derived by all countries from such investments in knowledge for better health. It mandated "research and development into diseases (often, though not exclusively, tropical diseases) that are concentrated in poor countries", and noted that enlightened self-interest is as compelling as humanitarianism as justification for action.