Problems encountered in high-level research in developing countries.

(CHEST 1998; 114:610-613) In developing countries, scientific and medical research faces many complex problems. While there is a fundamental belief that medicine cannot advance without scientific research, there is also a mistaken belief in many developing countries that research is the sole domain of industrialized nations. This delusory notion defeats us even before we begin. In developing countries there exists a complexity of entrenched limitations that translates into defi¬ cient scientific growth and, consequently, scarce biomedical research. These limitations derive from