Health research policy in the European Union

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7506.1459

BMJ 2005;330:1459-1460 (25 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7506.1459

Editorial

Health research policy in the European Union

Drastic revision is needed

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

"Health" is the number one theme in the first outline proposalof the European Union's seventh framework programme of research(FP7) for 2007-13.¹ Translating this indication into actual"research for the health of Europeans" will require a drasticpolicy revision with relation to the current (FP6, 2002-6) researchprogramme, which is severely lacking in a population dimension²and champions "the traditional mix of basic science and biomedicine"that is deemed wholly inadequate to support health systems bythe World Health Organization's ministerial summit on healthresearch.³

This revision requires four main changes: in conception, content,procedures, and resources. The programme's conception must incorporatea simple but crucial idea: "From the population to the population."Research prompted by health problems in a population must provideresults that are relevant and applicable in that population.This goes against the common misconception—transparentin the sixth research framework—that a solution to a biological. . . [Full text of this article]

Rodolfo Saracci, professor

Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, via Trieste 41, 56126 Pisa, Italy
(saracci@hotmail.com)

Jørn Olsen, professor

Danish Epidemiological Science Centre, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, 8000 Århus C, Denmark

Albert Hofman, professor

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical Center, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands

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This article has been cited by other articles:

Saracci, R. (2007). European Union: the seventh Framework Programme resuscitates public health research. Eur J Public Health 17: 237-237 [Full text]
McCarthy, M., Clarke, A. (2007). European public health research literatures measuring progress. Eur J Public Health 17: 2-5 [Full text]
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