International collaboration plan to support world health research

Ottawa, ON – The federal government says that 13 research teams – pairing Canadian health researchers with counterparts in the developing world – will receive more than $20 million in funding through Teasdale-Corti team grants. The grants will be awarded through the Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI), a partnership between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Health Canada, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Each team will be allocated up to $1.6 million over four years to find practical and sustainable solutions to global health problems. Researchers and research users, such as policymakers and practitioners, will work together to find solutions to the world’s most pressing health issues.

The grants program is named in honour of Dr Lucille Teasdale and her husband, Dr Piero Corti. Dr Teasdale was a pioneering Canadian surgeon who died in 1996 after contracting AIDS while operating on patients in Uganda. Doctors Teasdale and Corti dedicated their lives to improving health care in Africa, and to building the capacities of African health practitioners.

“The Teasdale-Corti team grants will honour their legacy by making a real difference in improving the lives of people in the poorest countries of the world,” said Maureen O’Neil, president of the International Development Research Centre.

“This initiative harnesses the strengths of researchers in Canada with those in developing countries,” said Dr Alan Bernstein, president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. “Their collaboration will both generate and apply the knowledge needed to address urgent global health and health system challenges. It is a major opportunity for Canadians together with their partners around the world to do this kind of research.”

The 13 successful teams were chosen from more than 250 applications following a stringent peer-review process. The 13 teams are as follows:

1) Revitalising Health for All: Learning from Comprehensive Primary Health Care Experiences. Countries: Canada, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, India, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bolivia, Ecuador, Australia. Team Leaders: Ronald Labonte, University of Ottawa, David Sanders, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

2) Unravelling the Emerging Childhood Obesity Epidemic in Mexico: The Nutrition Transition and the Double-Edged Sword. Countries: Canada, Mexico. Team Leaders: Peter Katzmarzyk, Queens University, Canada, Juan Ricardo Lpez y Taylor, University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

3) Strengthening Nurses Capacity for HIV Policy Development in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Countries: Canada, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Jamaica, Barbados. Team Leaders: Nancy Edwards, University of Ottawa, Eulalia Kahwa, University of the West Indies, Jamaica, Dan Kaseje, Great Lakes University of Kisumu, Kenya

4) Veterinary public health as part of the global response to emerging diseases. Building a sustainable model in Sri Lanka with extension to South and Southeast Asia. Countries: Canada, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Laos, Malaysia. Team leaders: Craig Stephen, Centre for Coastal Health, University of Calgary, Sam Daniel, Ministry of Estate Infrastructure and Livestock Development, Sri Lanka

5) quipe de Recherche interdisciplinaire sur la vulnrabilit et lquit en sant en Afrique. Countries : Canada, Mali, Burkina Faso. Team Leaders: Slim Haddad, Universit de Montral, Pierre Fournier, Universit de Montral, Banza Baya, Universit dOuagadougou, Burkina Faso.

6) Prevention, Care and Support for Vulnerable Populations at Risk for HIV/STI in Shanghai, China. Countries: Canada, China. Team Leaders: Liviana Calzavara, University of Toronto, Lai Yi Kang, Shanghai Municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, China.

7) Political violence, natural disasters and mental health outcomes: Developing innovative health policies and interventions. Countries: Canada, Guatemala, Nepal, Peru and Sri Lanka. Team Leaders: Duncan Pedersen, McGill University, Vctor Lpez, Centro de Investigaciones Biomdicas y Psicosociales (CIBP), Guatemala, Bhogendra Sharma, Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT), Nepal Marina Piazza, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru, Laksiri Priyadarshana Chamindra Weerackody, Peoples Rural Development Association, Sri Lanka.

8) Caribbean Eco-Health Programme: Public and Environmental Health Interactions in Food and Water-borne Illnesses. Countries: Canada, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname. Team Leaders: Eric Dewailly, Laval University, Neela Badrie, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Martin Forde, St Georges University, Grenada, West Indies.

9) Research, Policy and Practice With Regard to WorkRelated Mental Health Problems in Chile: A Gender Perspective. Countries: Canada, Chile. Team Leaders: Katherine Lippel, University of Ottawa, Ximena Daz, Centro de Estudios de la Mujer, Chile.

10) Poor land use and poor health: Primary prevention of ill human health through sound land use for small-scale farmers of the humid tropics. Countries: Canada, Brazil. Team Leaders: Marc Lucotte, Universit du Qubec Montral, Marcel Bursztyn, Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentvel, UnB., Brazil.

11) Increasing Capacity to Achieve Millennium Development Goal # 6 in Honduras: Combating Infectious Diseases. Countries: Canada, Honduras. Team Leaders: Ana Lourdes Sanchez, Brock University, Lourdes de Madrid, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Honduras, Honduras.
12) Researching Equity in Access to Health Care (REACH). Countries: Canada, South Africa. Team Leaders: Stephen Birch, McMaster University, John Eyles, McMaster University. Di McIntyre, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Helen Schneider, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

13) Pediatric pain management in urban and rural Thailand. Countries: Canada, Thailand. Team Leaders: G Allen Finley, Dalhousie University, Somboon Thienthong, Khon Kaen University, Thailand.

Detailed abstracts of the projects can be viewed at www.idrc.ca/en/ev-110017-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html