Q: Please share some of your plans to improve medical research. Which issues will be prioritized?
Dr Swaminathan: We have to work on diseases of public health importance. As far as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are concerned, hypertension, diabetes and mental health absolutely need attention--they cannot be ignored as they are affecting a large number of people and causing a lot of disability in adults. In case of communicable diseases, along with TB and malaria, we will try to focus on eliminating diseases like kala azar (Leishmaniasis), filariasis and measles. Another top priority would be to address under-nutrition in children--doing research to find out the challenges at the ground level and also to find its impact on health conditions.
The second major priority would be to build capacity for biomedical research in our medical colleges and universities across the board. I would like to focus more on clinical and epidemiological public-health research.
Malaria is another important area to focus on--especially drug-resistant malaria. If we look at the distribution, there are pockets of very high malaria prevalence--mostly in tribal and remote rural areas. ICMR institutes are already working on strategies to tackle this. There are small pilot projects that work, but they need to be scaled up and that has to be done through the programme. Working with the programme is important. It has to be a two-way process--programme should tell what the priorities and bottlenecks are and we need to find solutions and feed them back into the programme.
(Note: It is a matter of great pride for all of us that a humane scientist of the calibre of Dr Swaminathan has been appointed to head ICMR--the apex body for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research in the country. She is a strong champion for civil society and a person of great integrity. I am sure all of us will help her, in whatever way we can, to realize her plans.)
Shobha Shukla, CNS
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