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May 6, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Researchers Must Focus on Diseases of Poor"

New York Newsday (www.newsday.com) (05/06/02) P. A22; Huang, Franklin; Stremlau, Matt; Peracchio, Adrian

A commentary in Newsday recommends that more effort be put into combating diseases affecting poor countries.  A recent article in the journal Nature reported that only about 5 percent of the $60 billion spent every year around the world on biomedical research goes toward fighting the diseases that affect 95 percent of the world's poorest populations.  For example, only $84 million is spent annually on malaria research, which works out at about $42 per fatality.  By contrast, $800 million is spent every year on asthma research, which works out at about $500 per fatality. Another reason why malaria does not attract a lot of attention is because most of the graduate programs where researchers are trained concentrate on just a few areas, such as genetic disorders or cancer, while diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria are hardly mentioned.  Graduate schools need to introduce classes that would train young scientists to address the diseases that threaten most of the world's population.  "Without this commitment to training truly globally minded scientists, a vaccine for malaria may never be developed," the editorial asserts.

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