Systematic analysis of global health research funding in Canada, 2000–2016

Abstract

Objectives Considering recent shifts in global funding landscapes, this study analyzes Canada's long-term global health research funding trends in the hope of informing a new Canadian global health research strategy. Examining past investments can help prioritize limited future resources to either build on Canada's existing strengths or fill gaps where needed, while simultaneously informing the investments of research funders in other countries. Methods Administrative data were analyzed covering all 1584 global health research grants awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to 927 unique principal investigators from 2000 to 2016, totalling C$341 million. Existing metadata associated with each grant was supplemented by additional qualitative coding. Descriptive time-series analyses of global health research grant data were conducted using various measures related to each grant's recipient (e.g., province, university, sex, distribution) and subject matter (e.g., research theme, area, focus). Results CIHR's total annual global health research funding increased sharply from $3.6 million in FY2000/2001 to $30.3 million in FY2015/2016, with the largest share of research funding now focused on health equity-representing nearly 50% of CIHR's global health research funding. Past grants have concentrated on infectious disease and public health research. One third of CIHR's global health grant funding went to 20 principal investigators. Only 42.2% of global health research funding came from CIHR's open investigator-driven competitions, with the rest coming from strategic priority-driven competitions. Conclusion Global health research has seen steady increases in funding from CIHR's open competitions when preceded by investment in strategic competitions, which suggests the level of a national research funding agency's strategic investments in global health research may determine the size of the field in their country. The greatest concentration of past investment lies in health equity research, followed by infectious disease research. Future analyses of research funding would benefit from an internationally accepted keyword classification scheme and more granular administrative data. RésuméObjectifs Étant donné les changements récents dans la conjoncture mondiale du financement, nous analysons les tendances à long terme du financement de la recherche en santé mondiale du Canada dans l'espoir d'éclairer une nouvelle stratégie canadienne de recherche en santé mondiale. L'examen des investissements passés peut contribuer à déterminer s'il faut consacrer les ressources futures limitées à miser sur les forces existantes du Canada ou à combler les lacunes si nécessaire, tout en jetant un éclairage sur les investissements dans la recherche des bailleurs de fonds d'autres pays. Méthode Nous avons analysé les données administratives des 1 584 subventions de recherche en santé mondiale, d'une valeur totale de 341 M$ CA, octroyées par les Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada (IRSC) à 927 chercheurs en chef indi...

Using a rapid environmental scan methodology to map country-level global health research expertise in Canada

“…We defined global health research as research focusing on health, health systems, health inequities and health policy challenges facing populations living in conditions of vulnerability in both low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries [7]. We identified research activities by systematically searching for research training programmes, research centres and research chairs focused on global health.…”

“…Grand Challenges Canada: a non-profit receiving financial support primarily from the government through Global Affairs Canada, funds innovators in low-and middle-income countries and Canada [9,10] areas of research from PubMed. For research inputs, we systematically analysed an administrative dataset of global health research funding in Canada from 2000 to 2016, specifically focusing our analysis on the 30 research institutions in Canada that received the most global health research funding from CIHR over this 15-year period [7].…”

“…Database and web searches were conducted in March 2018. When applicable, we coded activities and outputs using a previously developed system of 13 research areas and four research themes (Box 2), which are consistent with the CIHR's mandates, research pillars and institutes [7,14]. When activities and outputs pertained to multiple foci, they were coded using the most-fitting primary focus.…”

“…We searched PubMed using a structured search query combining the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) term 'Global Health' and Author Affiliation 'Canada' for articles published recently, from January 1, 2013, to March 1, 2018. We exported the search results and qualitatively coded abstracts to identify the foci of each global health research publication involving Canadian-affiliated authors as either as primary authors or as co-authors [7].…”

“…In this manuscript we aimed to (1) summarise and critically evaluate the available evidence on global health research expertise at Canadian universities through research inputs, activities and outputs (Fig. 1), and (2) assess Canada's overall global health research expertise using strengths in select research inputs, activities and outputs [6,7].…”