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Inspired by the ongoing legacy of internationally renowned Drs. Lucille Teasdale and Piero Corti, who devoted their lives to their Ugandan patients and mentoring nurses and health educators, this initiative fosters international partnerships in support of health research and its effective use, and grounds the work where it is most needed –in countries affected by global health challenges, particularly poorer countries.

 

The response to the initial call for a Letter of Intent, issued in October 2005 was tremendous.  Of the 259 original submissions, thirty-two international research teams were chosen through a peer review process. These teams will now move forward to the next stage and will be awarded seed grants to develop their detailed programs of work.  After another formal competitive process, 8-10 successful teams, meeting the program’s objectives, will be awarded multi-year funding up to a total of $12.7 million over four years to undertake their programs of research, capacity building and knowledge translation. 

 

“The health gap between high and low income countries is widening, often due to lack of sound and stable governance, deterioration of physical and social environments, inability to ensure effective and efficient administration of national systems of health and social services,” noted Maureen O’Neil, President of IDRC.  “The Teasdale-Corti Global Health Research Partnership Initiative is a new cooperative program which demonstrates the urgency in supporting research on global health issues and their application.  We expect to see innovative projects resulting from this process.”

 

“The team proposals selected to go on to the next phase show great promise.  We need the research evidence that will improve the health of people in developing countries.  We expect that those team programs that make it to the next phase of the grants process will bring the very best Canadian and low and middle-income country expertise together to focus on the most pressing health problems,” said Dr. Alan Bernstein, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

 

This program will enable international teams of researchers working with research users (e.g. policy makers, government and non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and community members) to develop, test and implement innovative approaches to making research matter for health and development.  Each team will pair at least one Canadian institution with one lower to middle-income country institution. 

 

The detailed project proposals to be developed during this next phase will be reviewed and the 8-10 successful teams announced in December.  Once the final teams are chosen and projects undertaken, this program will help establish a foundation from which teams, individuals and institutions can more effectively secure other research and development support.

 

The Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI) is a partnership with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Health Canada (HC).

 

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