Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) representatives joined with hundreds of ME/CFS community members including patients, many of whom risked their health to raise awareness of the critical need for greater levels of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Currently, ME/CFS funding amounts to only $6.50 per person per year, despite the fact that millions remain chronically ill and disabled at a loss of billions of dollars in lost productivity each year. If research dollars were based on the severity of disease and the number of people impacted, the NIH would fund ME/CFS at levels that are 50 to 100 times greater, similar to those designated to MS and Lupus.
We are grateful to Nevada’s members of Congress including Congressman Mark Amodei, Senator Jacky Rosen, and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto; and their staff, who spent valuable time learning about ME/CFS and the many reasons why levels of research funding must be increased. Their support assures us that our voices were heard.
We know that, as research funding levels improve, so too do scientific and medical interest in a particular disease. Interest fosters breakthroughs. Breakthroughs result in treatment discovery and eventually a cure.
With our community’s help, WPI will continue to seek funding equality at the national level.
