The Numbers Behind the Science: How Biomedical Research Varies Across the Globe

The importance of global collaboration is the highlight of this issue, and for good reason. Research is driven by collaboration. Some of the world’s most pressing health issues are not limited to one geographical location, and so a global understanding of these issues is essential. One of the greatest public health successes ever achieved was the global eradication of smallpox in 1980. This incredible feat would not have been possible without the collaborative research effort conducted across the globe to develop safe and effective vaccines against the highly contagious disease.

Despite vast increases in the time and money that are spent on health research, solutions to some of the world’s greatest health problems are still lacking. The driving factor behind this discrepancy is a disparity in the global allocation of health research funding. Focusing specifically on biomedical research, funding varies drastically from continent to continent. Additionally, not all research topics are investigated to the same extent in all regions. Generally, in higher income regions, such as the Americas (North and South America) and Europe, funding is devoted to research on chronic illness and noncommunicable diseases. These are diseases that do not spread through infection and are not considered contagious. Meanwhile, lower income countries focus their research funding on communicable diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and cholera. Without a common research focus across the globe, and discrepancies in research funding, how can we foster collaboration to look for answers to some of our most pressing issues? These are some of the global trends across the globe.

Disclaimer: The data presented here is based on biomedical research funding awarded in the form of grants, since grants are a major way that many research organizations obtain the funding necessary for their work, and most of this information is publicly reported. Evidently, this does not encapsulate all research being conducted, but serves to represent the majority of publicly funded research.

For more information and additional measures of health research trends across the globe, check out the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Observatory on Health R&D. All data is presented in US dollars.

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- Adriana Zutic