Dear HIFA colleagues,
I wanted to share a new Comment recently published in The Lancet that may be of interest to this community: "Tackling the global health research financing emergency to sustain national health research ecosystems."
The piece, co-authored by 22 health research leaders from across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, argues that the current global health financing crisis is not only affecting service delivery — it is also putting national health research systems at serious risk, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Among the key points: many countries still rely heavily on short-term, project-based external funding for health research, which leaves institutions fragile and research agendas vulnerable to external priorities. Despite longstanding commitments, more than half of countries spend less than 0.05% of GDP on health research. The authors call for a shift toward stronger domestic investment, better integration of research into policy processes, and more predictable international support.
The full Comment is available here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00657-4/fulltext
The Alliance has also published an accompanying news item: https://ahpsr.who.int/newsroom/news/item/14-04-2026-alliance-convened-la...
I'd be interested to hear perspectives from HIFA members on this — particularly from those working in or with national research systems. What are you seeing on the ground? What would make a difference?
Best wishes, Jeff
HIFA profile: Jeff Knezovich is a Technical Officer (Partnerships and Engagement) Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO, Switzerland. Email address: kneozvichj AT who.int