UK and India announce joint funding call to combat world’s biggest health threat
30 July 2010
The Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) have announced today a commitment to jointly fund research into chronic non-communicable diseases, a group of conditions responsible for approximately 60 per cent of deaths worldwide. The £4 million initiative will focus on practical interventions to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
The call for proposal comes as a direct response to the devastating effects of a rapidly rising epidemic of chronic disease. Although infections pose an enormous threat to health in developing countries, chronic non-communicable diseases are becoming increasingly prevalent across the world and the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced in 2008 that they are now the leading cause of death.
The MRC’s partnership with ICMR is vital to developing world-leading collaborative research. It will enable the best minds, ideas and resources from the UK and India to come together to answer important, challenging research goals.
Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, chief executive of the Medical Research Council (MRC) comments from New Delhi:
“This strategic partnership will allow us to combine the unique strengths of the UK and Indian research communities and jointly tackle the growing burden that chronic diseases place on both of our countries. By bringing together our expertise, we will fund the research that will help us find real, affordable solutions to disease prevention and identify the best ways to implement these strategies at a local level.”
Proposals are invited from partnerships between academic groups based in India and the UK.
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For more information on the key issues the proposal should address, details of the funding on offer and application and eligibility criteria, visit our website or email icmr-mrccall@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
