Diabetes research in Mexico: a map of 13 years of public funding

Abstract

In Mexico, diabetes represents a serious public health problem and a high-cost disease for the health system. Health research is essential for generating new knowledge to combat such a serious issue, however, there is not enough information on how to generate and use it. This paper examines the public funding of 303 diabetes research projects, granted by the National Council of Science and Technology in Mexico between 2002 and 2014. The projects were systematized and classified according to their type of research, discipline or subject, and aim of knowledge. Considering these information, an econometric model that links the funding with the characteristics of the projects was prepared. The results show that the funding is focused on the basic and biomedical areas, particularly on genetic research, and also that diabetes research resources have increased over time, not steadily, but rather cyclically. In diabetes research projects there is a high level of concentration at several dimensions: research areas, topics, objects, institutions conducting research, and regions. The analysis of the resource allocation suggests that Mexico needs a stronger and oriented diabetes research agenda, including in its bases discussions about balance between basic and applied research, and about oriented research towards practical implementations. The importance of promoting health systems research to improve diabetes care is also discussed, as well as implementing mechanisms to assess the impact of diabetes research in short, medium and long term, as part of Mexico's science and technology policy.