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Strategies for Aspiring Biomedical Researchers in Resource-Limited Environments

2008; Public Library of Science; Volume: 2; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1371/journal.pntd.0000274

1935-2735

Patricia García, Walter H. Curioso,

Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

Countries struggling with global healthchallenges desperately need local biomed-ical researchers to find health care solu-tions to address the deadly diseases thataffect their populations. Building thescientific capacity of resource-limitedcountries is a clear priority among thescientific community [1–3].As the Global Forum for HealthResearch Report stated [4], ‘‘Strengthen-ing research capacity in developing coun-tries is one of the most effective andsustainable ways of advancing health anddevelopment in these countries and ofhelping correct the 10/90 gap in healthresearch.’’ The 10/90 gap refers to thestatistical finding of the Global Forum forHealth Research that only 10% of allglobal health research funding is directedto research on the health problems thataffect 90% of the world’s population [5].Great efforts are now being made tocorrect this gap, and some call it thegolden age of global health. Many re-searchers in resource-limited environ-ments have the opportunity to trainoutside their country and are offeredscholarships to do so, with the goal thatthey will return and help their country.For researchers willing to deal withdeveloping world challenges (poor infra-structure and support), there are excitingopportunities to solve a nation’s mostpressing health problems and make aname for themselves along the way.In this paper, we will share some keystrategies for aspiring biomedical research-ers based on the experiences of researchersaffiliated with Universidad Peruana Caye-tano Heredia (UPCH) in Lima, Peru—amajor hub for global health training inSouth America.