title: Matching taxpayer funding to population health needs.
abstract: In an era of economic recession and budget cutbacks,Americans may be curious to know how the government is distributing their taxes for medical research, relative to their health needs. Previous reports recommended that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) allocate funding proportional to the burden-of-illness from diseases and conditions. But the most recent publicly available data on burden-of-illness and NIH funding show that infectious diseases are still overfunded relative to their health burden on the American population, especially HIV/AIDS. By contrast, several lifestyle/environmental health conditions are still underfunded, including importantly: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, depression, violence, and road injury. NIH's allocation of research funding is often disproportionate to the current health needs of the American people. Greater decision-making involvement of Congress and the public would be helpful, if Americans want their taxes spent fairly on the illnesses that actually burden their health.
authors: From Mercury Medical Research & Writing, New York, NY. michael.hanna@mercury-mrw.com.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Hanna
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000191:economics*; D002017:Budgets; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations / Q000191:economics; D017281:Cost of Illness; D057172:Economic Recession; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000191:economics*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.) / Q000191:economics*; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000191:economics*; D011639:Public Opinion; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000191:economics*; D013660:Taxes / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States
keywords: NIH; burden-of-illness; research funding