Australia, India to Join Hands to Combat Lifestyle Diseases in the Developing World

Chronic, non-communicable conditions like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancers have become the leading causes of deaths in the developing world, so public health experts from Australia and India are set to collaborate on a new research on lifestyle-related diseases. "ENCORE -- Excellence in non-communicable disease research -- will train a new generation of researchers in non-communicable disease prevention and control in India and other low-and middle-income countries in South Asia," the University of Melbourne said in a statement.

ENCORE will focus on diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancers with the help of funding from the University of Melbourne.

"Conditions like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancers have become the leading causes of deaths in the developing world. Today, 80 percent of these deaths are people from low-and middle-income countries like India," ENCORE project leader Brian Oldenburg said.

The program will be co-led by senior researchers from the Australian university and India's top public health and medical research institutes like the Public Health Foundation of India, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, and Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology.

Almost 40 doctoral and postdoctoral students are anticipated from the Australian and Indian collaborating partner institutions, K.R. Thankappan from Kerala-based Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology said.

Trainees will undertake research exchange, participate in online web conferences, take advanced subjects at one another's institutions, participate in annual workshops, attend international conferences and undertake exchanges with top research institutes in the US and Britain, Thankappan noted.

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Source-IANS