Revista de Cuidados Farmacêuticos e Sistemas de Saúde
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Health Care Research in Arab Countries: Where Do We Stand? A Summary for Previously Published Reports

Nagwa Ibrahim

Scientific research is considered as a tool to assess the growth and development in national and regional health care. Successful research community requires innovative environment, resources and funds. Funds might be through government, industries, universities, research organizations and private sectors. Regional and national expenditures on scientific research are indicators to study the knowledge system that relies on the use of science, technology, and innovation (STI). In developed countries the expenditures in scientific research is about 4-6% from the national income growth domestic product (GDP) compared to 0.2-0.4% in Arab countries. Recent reports indicated that Arab countries took counted steps to develop their research and experimental development (R&D) to stay competitive with global markets, but a lot still to be done. The Gulf States and Egypt are the most proactive at promotion of their science among Arab countries. In Saudi Arabia, they established the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST). In Qatar they established the Qatar Science and Technology Park. While in Egypt they established the Zewail City of Science and Technology. In conclusion, although research in Arab countries is progressively moving towards improvement of STI, it is still far behind the developed countries. Several key points need to be considered by decision makers to the actual need of Arab communities.