Student coalition ranks research universities' spending and activities on neglected diseases, other illnesses

"A first-time ranking of 54 top research universities in the United States and Canada has found that a miniscule percentage of funding goes to neglected diseases, despite the outsized influence that public universities play in developing medicines for illnesses often ignored by the private sector," Inter Press Service reports. "According to the University Global Health Impact Report Card, released Thursday, less than three percent of research funding at these 54 universities went to neglected diseases in 2010," the news service notes, adding, "This includes not only the tropical illnesses, such as Chagas disease and sleeping sickness, but also pediatric HIV/AIDS, malaria and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis." The Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), an international student coalition, provided research for the ranking, which "uses some 14 metrics to look more broadly at whether academic institutions are investing in research that addresses the health of poor communities worldwide," IPS writes, noting "some of the world's highest-profile universities fare poorly" (Biron, 4/4).