title: Government funding of health research in New Zealand.
abstract: An analysis of levels of government health research funding carried out in 2008 demonstrated that funding in New Zealand, after adjustment for population size, was less than one-third of that in Australia, less than one-fifth of that in the United Kingdom, and about 10% of that in the United States. This was perceived to be a major obstacle to the recruitment and retention of clinical and academic staff in our hospitals and universities. We have now repeated these analyses to determine the current state of these comparisons. From 2009 to the present funds for direct funding of research through the Health Research Council (HRC) have remained static at $54m. As a result of inflation of research costs (principally salaries) this represents a decrease of approximately one-quarter in the quantum of research funded by the HRC over the last 4 years. Current funding rates in the comparator countries, population-adjusted and converted to NZ$, are 3.4-fold higher in Australia, 4.5-fold higher in the United Kingdom, and 9.7-fold higher in the United States. Urgent and sustained action is needed to correct these major disparities in government health research funding if the quality of academic and clinical staff in our public institutions is to be maintained.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. i.reid@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Ian R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Joyce
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Crampton
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000191:economics; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits / Q000191:economics; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States