Research: Critical for Global Health

Insert Your Name & the Date of the Presentation Here

Medical research changes our lives

Medical Research: Big domestic and global paybacks

• 51% decline in death rates from stroke, 1975 to 2000

• 70% reduction in AIDS-related deaths (U.S.), 1995-2001

• Researchers discovered oral rehydration therapy for diarrhea, Pedialyte, that has saved children’s lives world wide

New medical tools needed to fight global diseases

• Malaria - 247 million cases a year. Needed: better diagnostics, better drugs, better prevention, and a vaccine.

• Tuberculosis - 1 in 3 worldwide have been exposed to TB (have “latent” TB). Needed: better diagnostics, better drugs, and an effective vaccine.

• HIV/AIDS - Worldwide epidemic is spreading. Needed: better drugs and a vaccine.

Medical research should not neglect global health, but has

Over 30 years, 1,556 new drugs brought to market:

• 179 for cardiovascular disease• 21 for tuberculosis and tropical diseases

Tuberculosis and tropical diseases affect the same number of people as cardiovascular disease.

Global health matters to us for public health reasons

• In 2003, SARS originated in Asia. Spread worldwide in a matter of weeks.

• West Nile virus originated in Africa. Now in nearly every state in the U.S.

• Extensively drug resistant tuberculosis is spreading globally. Has been reported in the United States.

Global health matters to us for economic reasons

• (Here it would be helpful to add information on how global health affects your state, available at http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/global-health/publications/global-health-and-your-state.html)

Global health matters to us for diplomatic and security reasonsGrowing consensus that global health is linked to security:– National Academy of Sciences News

Release, Dec. 15, 2008: “Global Health Should Be Key Component of U.S. Foreign Policy”

– Report on presentation of Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, Jan. 2009: Global Health Key to Security Improvements

It is part of maintaining our scientific leadership

China gunning for brain gain

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) says that it will pay for “thousands” of overseas scholars and scientists to come and work in China over the next five years.

Government has a major role in global health research

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• Annual budget of $30 billion +• Operates 27 Institutes and Centers—it is

America’s leading research institute• 80 percent of NIH funds go to state institutions

and businesses as grants and research contracts

• NIH components most focused on global health:– National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases

(NIAID) – Fogarty International Center

The Centers for Disease Control

Department of Defense

• The Department of Defense researches global disease threats to our troops and U.S. civilians abroad.

• Several programs within DOD conduct research on global infectious diseases.

United States Agency for International Development

• USAID extends assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.

• Health research is integral to USAID’s assistance work

Our investment in global health research = inadequate

U.S. government research spending on eight leading neglected infectious diseases was $376 million in 2007

Strong agency funding essential to global health research

Research is expensive and results aren’t guaranteed

Basic research to preclinical to Phase I, II, and III trials

But there are immediate paybacks

• Immediate economic benefit to states from research dollars that flow to them

• Our presence through overseas research can enhance goodwill

• Having systems in place can stop disease threats now

In your advocacy, make the benefits immediate and local

• In your advocacy, talk about how research dollars that go to your state spur economic growth – use global health examples

• Talk about how global health matters to your state

• Adding data on any local global health threats – for example, TB cases or West Nile – can be effective

In your advocacy, be aware of the audience’s special interests

• Check Committee assignments and special interests of the person you’re meeting with and be sure to focus on those– For example, if you’re talking to someone

interested in defense, make the security argument up front

In your advocacy, have a specific request if you can

• Helps to make your voice heard and to let members of Congress know that you think global health research is important.

• Members of Congress don’t expect you to know all the answers, but -- if you can -- it helps to have a specific request: – This can be for research on a specific disease or

funding related to a specific agency – Before your meeting, find out where Congress is in

the funding (appropriations) cycle and see what advocacy groups are asking for. You can reference requests that they have made public.

Groups that can be sources for funding requests

• AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition: ADIS vaccine research funding

• Alliance for Microbicide Development: Funding for HIV microbicides

• American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene: Funding for research on malaria and tropical diseases

• Infectious Disease Society of America: Funding for TB research

• Research ! America: Overall NIH advocacy • The CDC Coalition: Overall CDC advocacy• Treatment Action Group: TB and HIV/AIDS research

funding

The Americas

were declared

“polio free” in 1994

Polio vaccine, 1955-2005: * averted 1.1 million polio cases* saved 160,000 lives* economic benefit = > $180 billion