NIH aims to increase collaboration on chronic diseases

November / December 2015 | Volume 14, Issue 6

Older woman seated cross-legged on bed, looks at camera while medical worker takes her blood pressure

A home-care nurse measures the blood pressure of a terminal

cancer patient in Uttam Nagar, New Delhi.

Noncommunicable diseases kill 38 million people a year, most of them in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), according to the WHO. These chronic conditions - which include cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and diabetes - threaten health as well as social and economic development. To address the growing global burden, representatives from multiple U.S. government organizations recently gathered at the NIH.

"How can we work together on global noncommunicable disease research?" asked Dr. Ted Trimble, director of the National Cancer Institute's Center for Global Health, as he opened a two-day conference. The Center convened officials involved in research, prevention and control, capacity building and development to help synergize the government's NCD initiatives.

The global health landscape is changing, noted Ambassador Jimmy Kolker, HHS Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, in his keynote address. U.S. global health collaborations historically have focused on controlling infectious diseases, improving maternal and child health, and bolstering health systems. Now, there's the challenge of chronic diseases. "The global recognition of the rising problems of NCDs, and opportunities to prevent the risk factors such as tobacco use, hypertension and obesity is a changing paradigm in global health," Kolker said. "It's not just about external threats that infectious diseases pose, but a global view that we live in this networked, commercialized world with health challenges that affect all of us."

In 2011, the U.N. launched a campaign to stem the epidemic and included NCDs in the recently announced Sustainable Development Goals. Kolker said the U.S. could learn from, and share information with, other countries working to reduce NCD deaths and facing similar dilemmas regarding risk factors as well as access, cost and quality of care.

Kolker pointed out another global health shift, calling the donor-recipient relationship "very last century." Countries are looking to the U.S. for technical partnerships to build the capacity of their scientists and service providers, he observed. "Even in the poorest countries, the question is, ‘How do you do this in the United States?'"

The incidence of NCDs is rising faster, occurring at a younger age, and having worse outcomes in LMICs than in wealthier nations. They take an enormous economic toll. A recent Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report named it "the emerging global health crisis." Meanwhile, a study by the World Economic Forum and Harvard University put a dollar figure on the problem - estimating NCDs will cost developing countries about $21.3 trillion over the next two decades.

"If you can make an economic case for investing in global health, you probably should start with NCDs in low- and middle-income countries because the overwhelming proportion of burden falls between the most productive years of life," explained Thomas Bollyky, a CFR senior fellow, who presented highlights from the Council's report. "Given the scale at which this is happening," he added, "it reverberates through households, health systems and national governments, and it starts to have global effects."

While health spending in LMICs has tripled over the last two decades, it's still low, Bollyky said. The governments of all LMICs together, representing about 5.7 billion people, spend as much or less on health than the governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany combined, which only serve about 300 million citizens. In LMICs, people are poorer and can't afford to buy health care out of pocket and governments aren't providing the preventive and chronic care higher income countries do. That, Bollyky explained, is a key driver of the problem.

Given that lifestyle choices, such as a diet and exercise, are modifiable risk factors, both Bollyky and Kolker suggested engaging the private sector to find solutions. On the research front, Trimble drew attention to a new funding opportunity to develop regional centers of research excellence focusing on noncommunicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries.

More Information

Chronic, noncommunicable diseases information and resources from Fogarty
UN 2011 High-level Meeting on Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases
UN report by the Secretary-General on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (A/66/83), May 2011
World Health Organization (WHO) resources:

WHO noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors
WHO noncommunicable diseases fact sheet, updated January 2015

The emerging global health crisis: Noncommunicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries
Council on Foreign Relations, December 2014
The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases
A report by the World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health, September 2011

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Funding news for global health researchers and partners from Fogarty at NIH

On behalf of the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the following funding opportunities, notices and announcements may be of interest to those working in the field of global health research. Updates are typically distributed once a week.

Funding Opportunities

NIH funding opportunities focusing on global health and foreign collaboration.

Global Noncommunicable Diseases and Injury Across the Lifespan: Exploratory Research (R21) (PAR-16-052)
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): February 24, 2016, February 22, 2017
More about Global Noncommunicable Diseases and Injury Research from Fogarty.
Tropical Medicine Research Centers (U19) (RFA-AI-16-002)
Application Receipt Date(s): June 03, 2016
Note: Applicant organizations must be headquartered in foreign (non-U.S.) resource-constrained countries (i.e. low-income economies, lower-middle-income economies, and upper-middle-income economies by World Bank definition).
More about the Tropical Medicine Research Centers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Collaborative Research (R01) (RFA-AI-16-006)
Application Receipt Date(s): March 17, 2016

NIH funding opportunities for which foreign organizations, foreign components of U.S. organizations and/or other foreign components may apply.

Seek, Test, Treat and Retain For Youth and Young Adults Living with or at High Risk for Acquiring HIV (R01) (RFA-DA-16-010)
Application Receipt Date(s): March 2, 2016
Integration of Infectious Diseases and Substance Abuse Intervention Services for Individuals Living with HIV (R01) (RFA-DA-16-011)
Application Receipt Date(s): March 2, 2016
Systems Biology Approaches in HIV/AIDS and Substance Use (R01) (RFA-DA-16-013)
Application Receipt Date(s): April 04, 2016
Effects of Drugs of Abuse on Latent HIV Reservoirs in the CNS (R01) (RFA-DA-16-014)
Application Receipt Date(s): March 3, 2016
BRAIN Initiative: New Concepts and Early - Stage Research for Large - Scale Recording and Modulation in the Nervous System (R21) (RFA-EY-16-001)
Application Receipt Date(s): March 15, 2016
Small-Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) Consortium:

Therapeutic Development and Mechanisms of Resistance (U01) (PAR-16-049)
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): March 17, 2016; November 17, 2016; and more
Innovative Approaches to the Prevention and Early Detection of Small Cell Lung Cancer (U01) (PAR-16-051)
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): March 17, 2016; November 17, 2016; March 17, 2017; November 17, 2017
Coordinating Center (U24) (PAR-16-050)
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): March 17, 2016; November 17, 2016

Collaborative Research Projects (Collaborative R01) (PAR-16-058) and Research Projects (R01) (PAR-16-059) to Enhance Applicability of Mammalian Models for Translational Research
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): Multiple dates, see announcement.
Natural History of Disorders Identifiable by Screening of Newborns (R01) (PAR-16-061)
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): Multiple dates, see announcement.
Innovative Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R21) (RFA-CA-16-001)
Application Receipt Date(s): February 26, 2016; May 26, 2016; September 26, 2016
Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R33) (RFA-CA-16-002)
Application Receipt Date(s): February 26, 2016; May 26, 2016; September 26, 2016
Innovative Technologies for Cancer-Relevant Biospecimen Science (R21) (RFA-CA-16-003)
Application Receipt Date(s): February 26, 2016; May 26, 2016; September 26, 2016
Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Technologies for Cancer-Relevant Biospecimen Science (R33) (RFA-CA-16-004)
Application Receipt Date(s): February 26, 2016; May 26, 2016; September 26, 2016
Specialized Centers in Research in Pediatric Developmental Pharmacology(U54) (RFA-HD-16-014)
Application Receipt Date(s): February 18, 2016
NHLBI Outstanding Investigator Award (OIA) (R35) (RFA-HL-16-024)
Application Receipt Date(s): March 15, 2016; February 15, 2017; February 15, 2018
NHLBI Early Investigator Award (EIA) (R35) (RFA-HL-16-025)
Application Receipt Date(s): March 15, 2016; February 15, 2017; February 15, 2018
Revision Applications for Assay Validation For High Quality Markers For NCI-Supported Clinical Trials (U10) (PAR-16-056)
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): February 29, 2016; July 8, 2016; October 7, 2016; and more
NIDCD Early Career Research (ECR) Award (R21) (PAR-16-057)
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): February 26, 2016, June 28, 2016, October 26, 2016; and more

NIH funding opportunities for which United States small business concerns (SBCs) may collaborate with a foreign business entity.

Development and Translation of Medical Technologies to Reduce Health Disparities (SBIR) (R43/R44) (RFA-EB-16-001)Application Receipt Date(s): March 4, 2016; July 6, 2016

Information related to opportunities from other organizations focusing on global health and foreign collaboration.

The Global Health Technologies Design Competition from the Rice 360˚ Institute for Global Health Technologies offers the opportunity for a team to identify a challenge in delivering health care in the developing world and design a technology to solve the problem. The top teams receive recognition and awards. Teams invited to participate can apply for need-based travel assistance awards.
Register by February 20, 2015
McGill University Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Healthoffers advanced courses and workshops in topics such as tuberculosis research methods, TB diagnostics, and tropical and parasitic diseases. Get information on course schedules and fees, including reduced fees for low and middle income countries participants.
Applications due February 7, 2016

Funding News

NIH funding news that may be relevant to global health researchers.

Request for Information: NIH Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program National Direct Volunteer Physical Evaluation and Biospecimen Collection (NOT-PM-16-002)
Notice of Extension of the Response Date for Request for Information (RFI): Future Directions in Gynecologic Health and Disease Research (NOT-HD-15-037)
Notice of Participation by the National Institute on Aging in Drug Discovery for Nervous System Disorders PAR-16-041 (R01) (NOT-AG-16-013) and PAR-16-042 (R21) (NOT-AG-16-014)
Notice of Change in Key Dates for NIAID Clinical Trials funding opportunities:
- Implementation Grant PAR-13-149 (R01) (NOT-AI-16-014)
- Planning Grant PAR-13-150 (R34) (NOT-AI-16-015)
- Implementation Cooperative Agreement PAR-13-151 (U01) (NOT-AI-16-016)
Notice of the Replacement of the NIDCD Small Grant Program (R03) with the NIDCD Early Career Research Award (R21) (NOT-DC-15-004)