Health, science and technology are requisites for economic and social development. The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to be attained by 2015, represent an immense challenge to developing countries. They will need health research systems with clear R&D priorities and ensure that results are incorporated into policy and practice. Advances in the biomedical sciences, particularly in genomics, open new opportunities but impose additional challenges. Brazil can count on a powerful industrial basis and a strong scientific community to develop an effective health research system, a requirement for the achievement of the MDGs.
Health research systems; Research priorities; Equity; Genomics
