title: Global trends in health research and development expenditures--the challenge of making reliable estimates for international comparison.
abstract: Better estimates of changes in the level and structure of national, regional, and global expenditures on health research and development (R&D) are needed as an important source of information for advancing countries' health research policies. However, such estimates are difficult to compile and comparison between countries needs careful calibration. We outline the steps that need to be taken to make reliable estimates of trends in countries' expenditures on health R&D, describe that an ideal approach would involve the use of international sets of deflators and exchange rates that are specific to health R&D activities, and explain which methods should be used given the current absence of such health R&D-specific deflators and exchange rates. Finally, we describe what should be the way forward in improving our ability to make reliable estimates of trends in countries' health R&D expenditures.
authors.affiliation: Former OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, Paris, France. alison.young@wanadoo.fr.
authors.forename: Alison J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, Switzerland. terryr@who.int.
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Disease Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. jrotting@hsph.harvard.edu.|Department of Health Management and Health Economics, Institute for Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. jrotting@hsph.harvard.edu.|Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. jrotting@hsph.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: John-Arne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Røttingen
authors.affiliation: Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. rikviergever@gmail.com.|Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. rikviergever@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Roderik F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Viergever
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003906:Developing Countries; D014943:Global Health; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006291:Health Policy / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D012106:Research