Under the India-Canada Team Collaborations programme in research areas of mutual interest, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will soon initiate joint research in the thrust area of childhood obesity. Under the project, only collaborative research between Indian and Canadian scientists will be supported.

ICMR officials said that the unifying element underlying the collaboration, which was formalized through the signing of a MoU between India and Canada, is towards a commitment on excellence and the pursuit of a problem-based, collaborative approach in understanding the causes and prevention of childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity was one of the areas in which experts from both countries desired to work together and organizing a workshop was identified as a starting point. A workshop on 'Childhood Obesity and Non-communicable Diseases' was held on January 14-16, 2009 in India, wherein a delegation of Canadian and Indian experts was invited to participate to define research priorities for childhood obesity, which form the basic principles for this funding opportunity.

ICMR has invited proposals from the interested scientists for the project. Any faculty/scientist working in a permanent position in a medical college, research institute, or university, anywhere in the country including government, semi-government and registered bodies can become part of the research. While the ICMR will fund the Indian investigators, the Canadian investigators will be funded by the CIHR. The funding of each Indian-Canada collaborative team is up to a maximum budget of 50,00,000 Indian Rupees (or 1,000,000 Canadian Dollars) per project over a period of five years.

The major objectives of this India-Canada Team Grant programme are to support expert teams of talented and experienced researchers to support high-quality research that addresses the causes and prevention of childhood obesity through a collaborative team, to provide superior research training and mentorship environments, to support the production of new knowledge and the translation of research findings into improvements in the health and health care systems of both countries and to impact decisions by individuals, policy makers and others that will reduce the risk of developing obesity in children.

The relevant research areas include Epidemiologic transition and its consequences, early origins of obesity, the obesogenic environment during childhood & adolescence and Interventions to tackle the obesity epidemic at the school, community and societal level.

In the area of Epidemiologic transition and its consequences, the issues that have to be addressed are: social and environmental and its consequences; ethnic heterogeneity; epidemiological transition, including transitions from rural to urban environments in India, and from Canada among Indo-Canadian immigrants; surveillance of childhood obesity and its determinants in children and adolescents; and double burden of childhood obesity and its relevance to developing economies.

In the area of early origins of obesity, the research will focus on: fetal and infant origins of the obesity epidemic; role of infant feeding; and genetics, epigenetic, and animal models of obesity.

In the obesogenic environment during childhood and adolescence, the thrust will be on: over-nutrition, nutritional transition and the role of micronutrients; physical activity as a driver of obesity; and physical activity and the built environment.

And the researchers who study on Interventions to tackle the obesity epidemic at the school, community and societal level will look into the issue of behavioural, social and public health strategies.