The grant will aid in enhancing health outcomes and realigning the healthcare system to tackle the coexistence of two or more chronic conditions.

Experts from the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and the University of Leicester have been awarded a nearly £10 million grant by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to address multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) or multimorbidity in India and Nepal,.

The MLTCs is defined as the coexistence of two or more chronic conditions.

International organizations such as the Medical Research Council, the World Health Organization, and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases have recently highlighted MLTCs as a public health priority.

The grant will aid in enhancing health outcomes and realigning the healthcare system in relation to multimorbidity.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen anything like this level of investment in non-communicable disease research in low and middle-income countries,” Professor Faith Osier, President of the International Union of Immunological Societies and Chair of the NIHR Global Health Research Centres Funding Committee said, “The potential for this truly equitable partnership…is immense”.

In the first stage of the project research a critical mass of researchers in India and Nepal will conduct “high-quality research addressing various facets of multimorbidity with the goal of improving the lives of people living with it,” said Prof Sailesh Mohan, Director at Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries.

The project will further entail adopting the concepts of co-design and community engagement to conduct studies “to assess what type of integrated, technology-enabled, patient-centered, high-impact, and equitable health system intervention designs could most benefit individuals with two or more long-term conditions, which are increasingly impacting population health in both countries”.

The diagnosis and treatment of MLTCs will be tested in real-world settings and the learnings and findings from the centre’s activities will be disseminated globally, and not just in India and Nepal.

On the academic front, the project will include 17 placements for master’s degrees, 19 for PhDs, and 14 post-doctoral in Leicester, Birmingham, or Brunel, covering applied health research, implementation science, medical statistics, health data science, diabetes, among others.

The PHFI and the University of Leicester with other co-applicant institutions will also deliver short courses on epidemiology, biostatistics, behavioral sciences, health economics, etc. to approximately 400 participants.

The five-year project was launched on December 2, 2022.

Author

Arushi Soni

Arushi works as a Writer for HealthLEADS. She holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Shiv Nadar University. Her previous experience includes roles as a Writer and Reporter for The Hindu and Firstpost, Network18.
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