US announces USD 122 million to top Indian institutions for research on epidemics

WASHINGTON: An amount of USD 122 million has been announced by the United States to fund the top three Indian medical research institutions to prevent avoidable epidemics, early detection of disease threats, and rapid and effective response.

Over a five-year period, the total funding of USD 122,475,000 will be given to three institutions -Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE).

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made this announcement on Wednesday and said that this fund would help the country to accelerate progress towards a safer and more secure India from the threat of epidemics by focusing on the emerging and re-emerging pathogens through ICMR institutions.

A media release said that this would include detecting and controlling zoonotic disease outbreaks through a 'one health' approach; evaluating vaccine safety monitoring systems; capacitating the public health workforce in field epidemiology and outbreak response; and combating antimicrobial resistance.

The CDC said ICMR was established as an apex body for the design, coordination and promotion of biomedical research in India and has in recent years undertaken laboratory-based monitoring of infectious diseases.

Only ICMR, and ICMR institutions, including the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune and the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai are eligible for the funding starting from September 30, 2022.

ICMR is the governing body of several national institutes, including the National Institute of Virology, the National Institute of Epidemiology and several others which are categorised as centres for excellence and reference in the specific scientific areas for India.

These institutions are mandated by the Ministry of Health of Family Health and Welfare (MoHFW) to provide an oversight for laboratory confirmation of priority pathogens in India in a tiered manner as well as collate and analyze surveillance data for public health actions and work closely with the state governments where these institutes are located, the release added.

Source - PTI