Directing diarrhoeal disease research towards disease-burden reduction.
Despite gains in controlling mortality relating to diarrhoeal disease, the burden of disease remains unacceptably high. To refocus health research to target disease-burden reduction as the goal of research in child health, the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative developed a systematic strategy to rank health research options. This priority-setting exercise included listing of 46 competitive research options in diarrhoeal disease and their critical and quantitative appraisal by 10 experts based on five criteria for research that reflect the ability of the research to be translated into interventions and achieved disease-burden reduction. These criteria included the answerability of the research questions; the efficacy and effectiveness of the intervention resulting from the research; the maximal potential for disease-burden reduction of the interventions derived from the research; the affordability, deliverability, and sustainability of the intervention supported by the research; and the overall effect of the research-derived intervention on equity. Experts scored each research option independently to delineate the best investments for diarrhoeal disease control in the developing world to reduce the burden of disease by 2015. Priority scores obtained for health policy and systems research obtained eight of the top 10 rankings in overall scores, indicating that current investments in health research are significantly different from those estimated to be the most effective in reducing the global burden of diarrhoeal disease by 2015.
Kosek
Margaret
M
Department of International Health, Joins Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. mkosek@jhsph.edu
Lanata
Claudio F
CF
Black
Robert E
RE
Walker
Damian G
DG
Snyder
John D
JD
Salam
Mohammed Abdus
MA
Mahalanabis
Dilip
D
Fontaine
Olivier
O
Bhutta
Zulfiqar A
ZA
Bhatnagar
Shinjini
S
Rudan
Igor
I
D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans