What have we learned from 40 years of supporting research and capacity building?

Abstract

From the beginning of the 20th century, the industrialized “North” made incredible improvements in public health that reduced the threat of infectious diseases and increased overall health. Unfortunately, this was not the case in many other countries [1]. By the 1970s, major disease-control initiatives in low- and middle-income countries, which were driven vertically by donors, were having mixed results, and private-sector pharmaceutical firms had little incentive to invest in the drugs and tools needed by countries that could ill afford the research and development (R&D) costs. In April of 1974, the 27th session of the World Health Assembly called for the “intensification of activities in tropical disease research” and the “strengthening of research and training activities”, particularly in developing countries [2]. Within two months, the World Health Organization (WHO)Advisory Committee on Medical Research met and discussed the need to “coordinate and stimulate biomedical research through bilateral and multinational arrangements,” and to apply “advances in knowledge in basic biology to urgent medical and public health problems.” They recommended an “expanded WHO programme for research and training related to tropical communicable diseases” [2]. By November of that year, TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, was in operation. The main principles underpinning the formation of TDR are just as relevant today as they were when the Programme was established: to promote and conduct research equitably and to provide access to this knowledge and the resulting tools to the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach people. It has been 40 years since that beginning, and many lessons have since been learned. This special collection of seven articles (including this one) is designed to share those lessons—what worked, what did not, and how the Programme has evolved to meet the changing needs of both researchers and the research fields. What has changed is the type of research supported, the way it was conducted, and even the diseases covered. As the needs in the countries evolved, so too did the Programme, which is explained in more detail in the following articles.