Health research call to action?

Written byElie Dolgin

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Ministers from more than 60 developing world nations called for urgent action to improve health research this week, although it's unclear what on-the-ground changes will actually be made. Governments should invest 2% of their linkurl:health budgets;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54025/ on research and engage further with the private sector, the ministers said at the closing event of the three-day__ linkurl:Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health;http://www.bamako2008.org/ __in Bamako, Mali. The recommendations were part of a wish list of priorities -- called the "Bamako Call to Action" -- that aims to improve overall health research capacity through better coordination between countries. The communiqué would be "used as a blueprint for research development approaches," said a World Health Organization delegate, according to the linkurl:Science and Development Network.;http://www.scidev.net/en/news/bamako-call-to-action-unites-69-countries-on-healt.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_news But critics said the document was too similar to the call made at the previous linkurl:Ministerial Summit on Health Research;http://www.who.int/rpc/summit/en/ meeting in 2004, and that it lacked binding targets. "There are no mechanisms in the call," said Damson Kathyola, director of research at the Malawian Ministry of Health. "We know that we need research to improve the health situation... [but] who's going to implement this?"

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