| As this Toolkit goes to press, Ministers of Health, Education, Science and Technology and Finance are preparing to meet in Bamako, Mali, at a Ministerial Forum on Research for Health. The context is sobering. Despite significant increases in investment and some notable successes, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases continue to exert a heavy toll on many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, while the burden of chronic and non-communicable diseases is rising – including in the poorest countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Climate change and emerging infectious diseases are increasingly recognized as a global threat. Many countries are far from being on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Simultaneously, the world is facing its most serious financial crisis in many decades. |