Media statement

South African Medical Research Council reassesses its research priorities

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is currently re-assessing its research priorities, in light of its funding constraints, to address its declining scientific stature and achieve greater impact in improving health in South Africa.  The process of revitalising the MRC, which started in April this year, has involved extensive engagements with MRC staff, international research bodies, leading international and local scientists, donors and the government.

“The MRC is pivotal to generating new knowledge, new treatments and disease prevention strategies to build a healthy nation” says MRC President Professor Salim S. Abdool Karim. “We are setting a path to re-establish the MRC as a world-class research body with high impact against death and disease in our country.”

A report by the MRC President released on 29 August 2012 provides a detailed internal assessment of the MRC. It highlights the organisation’s strengths in research but also several shortcomings, including the minimal increases in government funding for the MRC (averaging a mere 3.5% over the last 4 years) in the face of 6% inflation and rapidly escalating costs of medical research. The MRC’s funding crunch has in-turn compromised research in medical schools and hospitals due to a lack of research funding to Universities by the MRC.

Of particular concern, in the face of these funding constraints, is the lack of rational prioritisation and the ill-advised duplication of in-house research.  For example, the MRC devotes resources to in-house research in some areas that do not feature among the common causes of ill-health, but it has no in-house research unit on pneumonia or diarrhoea, the two most important causes of death in children.  The scientific decline in the MRC was identified as early as 2010 by a government-appointed independent scientific (SETI) review of the organisation.  Further, a report from the Academy of Science in South Africa drew attention in 2009 to the serious decline in clinical research in the country.

The current re-assessment of the MRC has led to a 7-point proposal to 1) prioritise the in-house research to focus on the 10 most common causes of death and disease in South Africa, 2) increase funding to universities and medical schools to rebuild their health research, especially clinical research, 3) create new funding approaches for the development of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests, 4) improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation’s administrative systems, 5) improve the peer-review and quality of MRC research, 6) address the laboratory and office space needs, and 7) improve the in-house library to ensure MRC researchers have access to the latest medical journals. 

As part of this process, some in-house research programmes may potentially be merged or closed. These proposals are being discussed widely with MRC staff and stakeholders in order to map out the best way forward. No decisions have been taken at this point and consultations are ongoing.

This revitalisation plan seeks to regain the MRC’s leadership role in conducting high quality excellent research on the highest priority health problems in South Africa. To succeed, adequate funding from government for both in-house MRC research and university-based science will be essential.