U.S. Global Health Research Investments Provide Economic, Health Benefits Domestically, Abroad, Report Shows

CIDRAP News: Report details economic benefits of U.S. global health R&D
“Against the backdrop of steep cuts in global health spending proposed in President Donald Trump’s budget, two health advocacy groups [Thursday] released a new report documenting how earlier government research and development investments have increased jobs in the United States and saved lives around the world…” (Schnirring, 7/20).

New Scientist: Trump’s plan to cut global health research may cost U.S. billions
“U.S. government proposals to spend less on global health research will be bad for many countries — but perhaps worst of all for the U.S. An analysis of U.S. research into diseases of poor nations has found that it massively benefits the U.S. … This is because government investment in research for diseases of the poor helps stimulate work on treatments that would otherwise be unprofitable for pharmaceutical and biotech firms to develop…” (Mackenzie, 7/20).

NPR: The Side Effect Of That New Malaria Drug? American Jobs
“…The details are in a study released [Thursday] by Global Health Technologies Coalition, an advocacy group, and Policy Cures Research of Australia, an independent research group. The researchers found that between 2007 and 2015, the U.S. government invested $14 billion in global health research and development. And that created 200,000 new American jobs and returned $33 billion to the U.S. economy…” (Gharib, 7/20).

The Verge: Health research dollars don’t just save lives, they create jobs
“…Global health research investment has been stagnant or falling since 2009, excluding the billions in emergency funding set aside during the Ebola outbreak. Global health research spending from the U.S. government usually goes to agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as more indirectly to universities doing research…” (Chen, 7/20).

WIRED UK: Trump’s R&D cuts aren’t just cruel, they increase the risk of bioterrorism
“…Spending since 2000 resulted in 42 successful products, including 11 for malaria and 10 for TB. Want to ‘Make America Safe Again’? Start by investing in R&D. … The report estimates that R&D investment needed to protect against outbreaks is about $1 billion a year. The cost of such an outbreak to the global economy would be more than $60 billion a year…” (Clark, 7/20).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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