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Health research is considered an essential element for the improvement of population health and it has been recommended that a share of the national health budget should be allocated to develop this field. Chile has undertaken efforts in the last decades in order to improve the governmental structure created to promote the development of health research, which has increased human resources and funding opportunities. On the other hand, the sustained economic growth of Chile in the last decades suggests that the health expenditure will maintain its increasing trend in the following years. This additional funding could be used to improve coverage of current activities performed in the health system, but also to address the incorporation of new strategies. More recently, health technology assessment (HTA) has been proposed as a process to support decisions about allocation of resources based on scientific evidence. This paper examines the relationship between the development of health research and the HTA process. First, it presents a brief diagnosis of the situation of health research in Chile. Second, it reviews the conceptual basis and the methods that account for the relationship between a HTA process and the development of health research. In particular, it emphasizes the relevance of identifying information gaps where funding additional research can be considered a good use of public resources. Finally, it discusses the challenges and possible courses of action that Chile could take in order to guarantee the continuous improvement of an articulated structure for health research and HTA.

Background: In Chile, researchers can apply to public research funds through specific research projects and must compete with other professionals of other disciplines., Aim: To perform a critical assessment of the allocation of public funds for health research in Chile by a public institution called CONICYT., Material and Methods: A database was constructed with health projects financed by CONICYT, between 2002 and 2006. Projects were classified (according to their titles) in three methodological categories and nine topics. Age, gender and region where the main researcher is based, were also recorded., Results: 768 research projects were analyzed. Biomedical, clinical and public health research projects accounted for 66, 24 and 10% of allocated funds, respectively. Main researchers were female in 31 % of projects, their mean age was 52 years and 76% worked in the Metropolitan region., Conclusions: These results show that some objectives of the National Research System lead by CONICYT, such as using research as a tool for regional development and allocating funds for conditions with a large burden, are not been met.