PROCAARE: India, U.S. pact on disease surveillance

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 [THE HINDU]   Friday, November 28, 1997.  SECTION: National

            India, U.S. pact on disease surveillance

            Date: 28-11-1997 :: Pg: 14 :: Col: d

            By Our Special Correspondent

            NEW DELHI, Nov. 27.

            The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Ms.
            Renuka Chowdhury, and the visiting U.S. Secretary of
            Health and Human Services, Dr. Donna E. Shalala, today
            signed an agreement to strengthen collaborative efforts
            to address the multiple issues related to emerging and
            re-emerging infectious diseases and disease
            surveillance.

            The main highlight of the agreement is a proposal to
            launch a joint programme that would, to start with,
            cover aspects like training, expert consultations,
            laboratory strengthening, collaborative research and
            cooperation on disease outbreak response, if and when
            requested by the Government, where outbreaks took place.

            The programme, which is to be operationalised over the
            next few months by developing a joint plan of action and
            operating principles and guidelines, would also be open
            to development of new technical partnerships and funding
            from multiple sources and involve agencies.

            The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
            Atlanta, which is the premier U.S. agency for disease
            surveillance and prevention and control of communicable
            diseases, would be the nodal agency on behalf of the
            U.S. Government, and it may involve other U.S.
            institutions of excellence, including the National
            Institutes of Health, with mutual concurrence.

            On behalf of the Indian Government, on the other hand,
            the National Institute of Communicable Diseases here
            would be the nodal agency and it may involve other
            Indian institutions of excellences, including those
            belonging to the Indian Council of Medical Research,
            Department of Biotechnology, and State Governments and
            those which are part of the network of disease
            surveillance activities.

            The agreement also envisages other collaborative efforts
            involving multiple organisations, both governmental and
            non- governmental, in the two countries, as well as
            regional and international agencies.

            The agreement is to be valid for an initial period of
            five years, after which the collaborations may be
            continued with mutual concurrence.

            Speaking after the signing ceremony, Dr. Donna E.
            Shalala stressed the need for a global alliance to meet
            the global threat of emerging and re-emerging infectious
            diseases, demonstrated by the emergence of the Human
            Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the 1980s, but also by
            numerous outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases
            over the past decade.

            Ms. Renuka Chowdhury, urged the U.S. Government to give
            more thrust to tap the Indian systems of medicine, as,
            she said, they had remedies for several diseases, and
            the drugs had no side- effects and were cost-effective.
            India, in turn, looked forward to the experience gained
            by U.S. towards tackling the HIV menace, she added.

            Dr. Donna E.Shalala, who holds Cabinet rank in the U.S.
            administration, arrived here last night for a week-long
            visit, during which she would also be going to Lucknow,
            Bangalore and Calcutta.

            Tomorrow, she is scheduled to signed two other joint
            statements with the Minister of State for Science and
            Technology, Prof. Y. K. Alagh. One would be on
            contraceptive and reproductive health research and the
            other on the Indo-U.S. Vaccine Action Programme.
--------------------------------------------

Dr. Joe Thomas
Community Research Program on AIDS,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
B,7/B. Prince of Wales Hospital 
Shatin, N.T.  
HONG KONG.
Tel:  852-2637-4755, Fax: 852-2645-3098
E-mail: joethomas@cuhk.edu.hk
    http://www.csu.med.cuhk.edu.hk/hkaids/

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