Six of the world’s largest health agencies, between them managing an estimated 80% of all public health-research funding, announced on 14 June that they are forming of a new research alliance, the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease (click here >>), to collaborate in the fight against the global epidemic of chronic, non-communicable diseases.
The proposed priorities for the Alliance were identified in a collaborative paper, ‘Grand Challenges in Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases’, which was published in Nature in November 2007. This widely cited research paper, which was commissioned by the Oxford Health Alliance, provides a systematic framework for reaching practical policy solutions for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. For more information on the Grand Challenges process, click here >>.
The Alliance’s charter members are:
- Australia’s National Health Medical Research Council;
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research;
- China’s Ministry of Health in association with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences;
- the UK Medical Research Council; and
- the US National Institutes of Health, specifically its National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the Fogarty International Center.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, will be invited to join the Alliance as a member. Research agencies from other countries and private funders may be invited to join in a second wave.
Work of the Alliance will focus in particular on the needs of low- and middle-income countries, and on those of low-income populations of more developed countries.
For more information, see the Alliance’s press release (click here >>).