ICMR grant for chest research foundation

The prestigious award was won after a rigorous selection process,says Salvi.

The Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) will support the Indo-US Joint Networked R & D Centre on Environmental Lung Diseases in a venture that involves CRF,the Johns Hopkins University,and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB),India. This grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology will help the exchange of scientists between Pune and Johns Hopkins for capacity building and furthering research goals.

The Vadu Rural Health Program of the KEM Hospital Research Centre,Pune will be closely associated with both the US and UK projects,Salvi explained.

Indian doctors and scientists have a lot to contribute to world research and when it comes to an alarming problem like non-smoking COPD,we are sure India will provide the answers the world is desperately seeking,says Salvi.Earlier this year,ICMR and the MRC had jointly invited applications from Indo-UK collaborative research institutes for conducting research in the field of non-communicable diseases including respiratory diseases,cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Nine were shortlisted from 25 applicants and the CRF-Imperial team was chosen last week by a panel of top scientists from India and the UK,after a rigorous screening process.

Both the studies will take a close look at the prevalence and risk factors of COPD. Scientists will analyse the similarities and differences between smoking and non-smoking versions of COPD. This will help arrive at specific solutions to reducehe economic burden and mortality of the disease.

Research conducted by CRF,along with studies in other countries have revealed that COPD is no longer a “smoker’s disease” as it was long labelled.

The studies point to the poor man’s kitchen that burns biomass fuels like wood and cow dung as the likely source of non-smoking COPD.

It is estimated that more than 50 percent of the world’s population depends on biomass fuels for cooking.

According to WHO in two decades,COPD will become one of the leading causes of death in South East Asia making it more lethal than diabetes,HIV/AIDS,TB and malaria. Salvi pointed out that the Maharashtra State Health Systems Resource Centre in 2010 reveals that COPD heads the list of the state’s top causes of death accounting for almost the number of deaths caused by heart attack which is next in the list.