Erasing the global divide in health research

Developing and developed countries are often viewed separately with respect to their health problems, health systems, and health services research. So although more than 90% of the world's “potential years of life lost” belong to the developing world, only 5% of global research funds are devoted to studying the developing world's health problems.1 Chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and mental illness are usually regarded as problems of the developed world, but, as people live longer, developing nations will need strategies to cope with the associated health burden. Morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases are largely problems of the developing world but there are notable exceptions, in particular HIV infection. And for many healthcare problems the solutions are the same, irrespective of …