Funds to study diseases such as dengue fever do not rise in Brazil – 03/16/2023 – Health

The amount available for investment in research on neglected tropical diseases, including dengue and malaria, did not increase between 2004 and 2020, concluded a Brazilian study published this Thursday (16). The amount has suffered a small reduction over the years, but, as it is low, the authors say that investment has stopped.

The stagnation worries, in the evaluation of Gabriela Melo, doctoral student of the graduate program in health sciences and technologies at UnB (University of Brasilia).

“[Essas doenças] continue to affect the population, especially people living in vulnerable situations, such as inadequate access to basic sanitation, health, education, etc.”, says Melo, lead author of the study.

A Sheet contacted the Ministry of Health for comment on the study’s findings, but had not received a response as of this writing.

According to WHO (World Health Organization), 14 diseases make up the neglected tropical category. In addition to dengue and malaria, other examples are chagas disease, chikungunya and tuberculosis.

Brazil is a country very affected by these diseases. Some have a minor impact, but others pose serious risks.

Sanitary physician and professor at the USP School of Public Health, Gonzalo Vecina indicates dengue, leprosy, leishmaniasis, malaria and tuberculosis as the most relevant in Brazil, but he adds that the others need attention.

“It is a set of extremely important diseases from the point of view of public health”, says Vecina, who did not sign the study.

In the article, published in the journal Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases, the authors investigated the investments made mainly by Decit (Department of Science and Technology). Linked to the Ministry of Health, this body encourages research that may have a direct impact on health. In addition to the investments made by Decit, others made by the department’s partners, such as Capes and CNPq, were considered.

Data from funded research were accessed through a public data system by Decit itself. After the analysis, the researchers came to the conclusion that there were 1,158 investigations with financial support, registering a total of BRL 230 million in the 17-year period. About 70% of this amount came from the Ministry of Health.

When considering the values ​​divided by year, the researchers observed that there was an average decrease of 5.4% in the analyzed period. Because it is small, the conclusion is that investments have remained stable over the years.

The point is relatively positive considering the cuts suffered in the scientific budget in recent years. At the same time, the researchers draw attention to the fact that, at the international level, investments in neglected diseases are increasing.

Another problem observed was the change of government. The authors concluded that the changes in management caused a drop in the amount for research. The point highlights how the promotion of studies is much more adopted as government policies, and not by the State, meaning that they do not have a long survival depending on new administrations.

For Melo, the scenario is not the best either. “It would be interesting to have a consolidated State policy, with the objective of guaranteeing the advancement of science in favor of improving the quality of life of the Brazilian population and fighting neglected tropical diseases.”

Vecina’s view is similar. According to him, of the entire list of neglected tropical diseases, only dengue had a more targeted public research plan in Brazil – in this case, the development of a vaccine at the Butantan Institute, which is still in an advanced stage of testing on humans.

For him, it would be necessary to improve investments, but also better structure their objective. “A good part of the publications that appeared about these diseases that you have in this article were the will of a researcher who received money from an official institution […]but it wasn’t structured money for an effort.”

Another aspect found in the survey signed by Melo was the greater concentration of investment in biomedical research: this model alone concentrates 81% of the total amount. This type of study investigates the mechanisms of the disease and how it affects health in humans. With this, it is possible to advance with new forms of diagnosis, for example.

But there is an impasse as to why other research models have not had a large financial contribution. Clinical research, which involves humans to evaluate new forms of treatment and prevention, such as vaccines, only accounted for 11% of the total contribution.

The discrepancy catches Melo’s attention. “All types of funded research have their importance […]each one has its particularity and the important thing would be to guarantee that they have continuity and that their results can be applied to improve public health”, he says.