Wellcome Trust initiative: Animal Health in the Developing World

Abstract

Abstract
The Wellcome Trust is one of the world’s largest independent research-funding charities, with a mission to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health. Based in London, UK, the Trust funds a wide range of research, from basic science to the history of medicine, and supports more than 3,000 researchers in 54 different countries. The Trust’s total annual charitable expenditure is over £500 million; in 2006 it spent £73 million on health research and capacity building in developing and restructuring countries. Although the Wellcome Trust is more generally known for funding research into human health, it views animal health as important in its own right and, recognising the importance of livestock diseases, in 2003 launched a global five-year initiative termed ‘Animal Health in the Developing World – Livestock for Life’. This initiative is supporting a spectrum of activities that focus on livestock diseases in developing countries and their impact on human health and wellbeing. [Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2008;22(Special Issue):123-125]