Donor country official development assistance in health R&D: domestic economic burden vs. medical disseminative capacity

This study examines domestic determinants of donor country official development assistance (ODA) in health research and development (R&D). It argues that health R&D ODA is negatively related to domestic economic burden, i.e. pressures that donor governments face because of economic issues in their own country, while also positively influenced by long-standing capabilities in medicine and medical research that are projected globally. Using panel data on forty-four donor countries over a 6-year period, the study finds support for a negative relationship between domestic economic burden and donor country health R&D ODA. It also finds a positive relationship between medical disseminative capacity (MDC) and donor country health R&D ODA, as well as with the ratio of health R&D ODA to overall ODA. While domestic economic burden dampens the overall appetite for health R&D ODA, MDC helps to reverse this and ensures that the proportion of ODA that goes to health R&D in developing countries is increased.