A study published Wednesday in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice has found that federal funding of research into health law policymaking increased from 1985 to 1999 -- but is still insufficient to evaluate laws affecting the public’s health.

Researchers from Temple's Center for Public Health Law Research (CPHLR), a collaborative center based at the university's Beasley School of Law, aimed to find out the extent to which the National Institutes of Health supports this kind of work. They noted that policy research funding accounted for 0.25 percent of the 2014 NIH budget, up from 0.08 percent in 1985.

“We are heartened that the funding seems to steadily increase, but without improved strategies from NIH, legal action affecting the population will continue to go unevaluated for years," says Jennifer Ibrahim, associate director of CPHLR and associate dean of research at the College of Public Health.

The most commonly funded areas were also the most pressing public health issues, including alcohol, drugs, environmental health, HIV/AIDS, mental health, obesity, social disparities, tobacco, and transportation.