Poverty-related and neglected diseases - an economic and epidemiological analysis of poverty relatedness and neglect in research and development

Glob Health Action. 2015 Jan 22:8:25818. doi: 10.3402/gha.v8.25818. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Background: Economic growth in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) has raised interest in how disease burden patterns are related to economic development. Meanwhile, poverty-related diseases are considered to be neglected in terms of research and development (R&D).

Objectives: Developing intuitive and meaningful metrics to measure how different diseases are related to poverty and neglected in the current R&D system.

Design: We measured how diseases are related to economic development with the income relation factor (IRF), defined by the ratio of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) per 100,000 inhabitants in LMIC versus that in high-income countries. We calculated the IRF for 291 diseases and injuries and 67 risk factors included in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. We measured neglect in R&D with the neglect factor (NF), defined by the ratio of disease burden in DALYs (as percentage of the total global disease burden) and R&D expenditure (as percentage of total global health-related R&D expenditure) for 26 diseases.

Results: The disease burden varies considerably with the level of economic development, shown by the IRF (median: 1.38; interquartile range (IQR): 0.79-6.3). Comparison of IRFs from 1990 to 2010 highlights general patterns of the global epidemiological transition. The 26 poverty-related diseases included in our analysis of neglect in R&D are responsible for 13.8% of the global disease burden, but receive only 1.34% of global health-related R&D expenditure. Within this group, the NF varies considerably (median: 19; IQR: 6-52).

Conclusions: The IRF is an intuitive and meaningful metric to highlight shifts in global disease burden patterns. A large shortfall exists in global R&D spending for poverty-related and neglected diseases, with strong variations between diseases.

Keywords: disease burden; double burden; global burden of disease; neglected tropical diseases; poverty-related and neglected diseases; research and development; research and development expenditure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomedical Research / statistics & numerical data
  • Developing Countries / statistics & numerical data*
  • Economic Development / statistics & numerical data*
  • Global Health / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Neglected Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Poverty / statistics & numerical data*
  • Risk Factors
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • World Health Organization
  • Wounds and Injuries / epidemiology