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R D Klausner
Bill & Melinda Gates Fndn, Seattle, WA
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Background: Extensive data demonstrate the disproportionate impact of infectious disease on the developing world, yet only 10% of research dollars are spent on the diseases and conditions that cause 90 percent of the world’s health burden. A major focus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to reduce inequities in global health and bring advances in medicine and technology to bear on diseases that primarily affect the world’s poorest nations.
Methods: This plenary will summarize efforts by the foundation to spur innovation and focus biomedical research attention on health problems of the developing world. The plenary will discuss the foundation’s approach, and describe a new initiative, The Grand Challenges in Global Health, to identify critical scientific obstacles in global health, and fund research to solve those challenges. The initiative is modeled after David Hilbert’s 1900 identification of a set of unsolved mathematical problems he believed could guide mathematics research over the next century, sparking breakthroughs and opening up fields of study.
Results: The Gates Foundation’s evolving global health strategy focuses on supporting work in the three areas: 1) Improving access to existing technologies (e.g., vaccines); 2) improving existing technologies so that they are appropriate for developing countries (e.g., pricing, practicality of interventions); and 3) research and development to create new solutions (e.g., HIV vaccine, microbicide). Unaddressed and underfunded scientific challenges are a significant barrier to making progress on global health. The Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative is focused on improving R&D into diseases that primarily affect poor countries. The initiative, guided by a committee of prominent scientists, will 1) publish a list of “grand challenges”—research areas with the greatest promise for saving and improving lives in the developing world; and 2) fund novel, interdisciplinary approaches among researchers seeking solutions, with an initial commitment from the foundation of $200 million.
Conclusion: The biomedical research community has played a critical role in tackling diseases and improving the health of industrialized nations, and has devoted substantial resources to finding effective treatments and a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Given the growing number of people living with HIV, and the continuing impact of other infectious diseases on the developing world, this expertise can and must be harnessed to address pivotal health questions for the majority of the world’s people.
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