Launch of 2016 G-FINDER Report

The European Union should aim to lead innovation to fight infectious diseases in the developing world, speakers told a Friends of Europe event on 16 February.

The event, called Shaping the World, launched the 2016 G-FINDER report on global funding for research into neglected diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. These diseases kill nearly seven million people each year – mostly the world’s poorest people, and often due to a lack of effective tools for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Despite the urgent needs for new tools, G-FINDER reported that funding for neglected disease R&D fell in 2015 for the third consecutive year. When subtracting the spike in funding for Ebola in 2014 and 2015, R&D funding in 2016 was actually at its lowest level since 2007.