AusAID draft strategy includes more support for research into neglected diseases

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) "is planning to boost support for medical research, technology and innovations," as well as "encourage collaboration and capacity building aimed at poverty-related and neglected tropical diseases," SciDev.Net reports. The agency's draft Medical Research Strategy for the Pacific "outlines how AusAID will support research both at the 'preventative end and at the curative end' to create new medical products such as diagnostics, drugs or vaccines, and to improve the clinical treatment of people in poor communities" and "says there are hardly any financial incentives for commercial investment in diseases affecting the poor, who bear the biggest burden of disease," according to the news service. "The strategy fits within the Australian government's overall policy of making aid more effective," SciDev.Net states, noting an AusAID spokesperson based in Canberra said, "Practical research will help inform where and how the resources of Australia and its partners can be most effectively and efficiently deployed" (Jackson, 9/10).