Disease Advocacy Hub
Not all diseases receive funding proportional to their burden. Below, every number comes from peer-reviewed research comparing NIH spending to disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from the Global Burden of Disease study.
Funding vs. Disease Burden
Each bar shows NIH research funding (blue) alongside the disease's share of total U.S. DALYs (gray). Wider gaps suggest potential underfunding.
Sources: NIH RCDC FY 2019 actuals · GBD 2019 DALY estimates · Ballreich et al., JAMA Network Open 2021
Median funding per DALY across these diseases
$218
Diseases funded far below this median are disproportionately under-resourced.
Ischemic Heart Disease
8.9M
DALYs/year
$1.8B
NIH 2024
Ischemic heart disease is the single largest cause of lost healthy life in the United States, responsible for 8.1% of all DALYs, yet it receives a fraction of the funding that smaller-burden diseases command.
View details →Drug Use Disorders
6.5M
DALYs/year
$1.6B
NIH 2019
Drug use disorders, including the opioid epidemic, represent 5.5% of all U.S. DALYs and have surged 288% since 1990. The U.S. accounts for 42% of the global burden despite having 4% of the world population.
View details →COPD
5.0M
DALYs/year
$112M
NIH 2019
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. and accounts for 4.5% of all DALYs, yet receives strikingly little research funding: just $22 per DALY.
View details →Diabetes
4.5M
DALYs/year
$1.1B
NIH 2019
Diabetes affects over 37 million Americans and accounts for 4% of all DALYs. Its burden is growing: age-standardized mortality attributable to high fasting plasma glucose rose 9.3% from 1990 to 2021.
View details →Lung Cancer
4.2M
DALYs/year
$419M
NIH 2019
Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the U.S. by a wide margin. Despite causing 3.8% of all DALYs, it receives only ~$100 per DALY in NIH research funding, the lowest ratio of any cancer type.
View details →Stroke
3.8M
DALYs/year
$350M
NIH 2019
Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death and a leading cause of long-term disability. It accounts for 3.5% of all DALYs but receives only $91 per DALY in research funding.
View details →Depressive Disorders
2.7M
DALYs/year
$578M
NIH 2019
Depressive disorders affect over 21 million American adults and cause 2.4% of all DALYs. Age-standardized YLDs for depression rose 56% between 1990 and 2021.
View details →Chronic Kidney Disease
2.3M
DALYs/year
$649M
NIH 2019
Chronic kidney disease affects 37 million Americans, most of whom don't know they have it. It accounts for 2.1% of DALYs and often co-occurs with diabetes and heart disease.
View details →Alzheimer's & Dementias
2.0M
DALYs/year
$3.6B
NIH 2024
Alzheimer's and related dementias receive the highest funding-per-DALY of any disease studied: $1,183 per DALY in 2019, rising further with the 2024 increase to $3.6 billion. This represents a 350%+ funding increase since 2008, driven by bipartisan congressional action.
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