According to the World Health Organization, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (HTM) cause 32% of the burden of ill health in Africa, and seriously impact health outcomes in every region of the world. The HTM burden is an especially difficult public health problem to solve, in part because of the difficulty in financing the development of new medications or the deployment of already existing therapies. Often, effective medications already exist—or could be synthesized relatively easily—if only the financial incentivizes were aligned to reward the manufacture of these drugs for the developing world. Hence, there is a need for greater private sector investment in global health research and development (R&D) for diseases that disproportionately impact the developing world.
Launched in the fall of 2016, the Brookings Private Sector Global Health R&D Project seeks to identify financial incentives to spur private sector investment in medications for developing countries in Asia and Africa.
The Private Sector Global Health R&D Project is an initiative of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution and the Evans School Policy Analysis & Research Group (EPAR) at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, and made possible through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It will comprise multiple components, including a governance assessment, a literature and portfolio review, a health R&D spending assessment, economic modeling, and a household survey analysis.
Ultimately, the Global Health R&D Project hopes to increase knowledge about improving public health outcomes for emerging countries in Asia and Africa, as well as engaging key industry, media, academic, government and thought leaders with the aim of significantly raising the level of private R&D investment activity and improving global health outcomes.
The project team can be reached at [email protected].