Public health and epidemiological research: a blind spot among the European Union priorities?

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Abstract
The first projects supported by the European Union (EU) Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) of research1 are about to start while calls for applications are still open. FP6 is placed within the ‘Research’ Directorate of the European Commission (the propositional and executive organ of the EU) and formally covers the quinquennium 2002–2006, with actual project implementation in the years 2004–2006. The programme has available funds of 17.5 billion Euros, a 17% nominal increase in respect to the previous quinquennial programme (FP5), equivalent to a 1.5–2% annual rate of increase in real terms. This level of funding represents roughly 5% of the public spending in non-military research by the 15 EU countries, and approximately the same percentage holds within the segment of life sciences and health research. This would be far from negligible if it was selectively targeted on collaborative projects to boost genuinely innovative research, to study specific European phenomena (ranging from geological to historical and social), and to improve research competence where defective.

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