Aiming to improve the health and well being of women, children and adolescents through the expansion of cooperative biomedical and behavioural research, India and the US will soon begin joint research in the area of maternal and child health and human development research.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the US National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are the nodal agencies for this Indo-US programme on Maternal and Child Health and Human Development Research (MCHDR).

The goal of the MCHDR program is to ‘facilitate collaboration on maternal and children’s health and human development research, in part, to contribute to global understanding of the causes of morbidity and mortality in women, particularly mothers, children and adolescents’.

To address shared women and children’s health and developmental research concerns, Indian and US scientists will undertake a coordinated program that will involve participation in collaborative, peer reviewed research projects, scientific workshops and conferences, research training, and technology transfer. Building on a history of productive biomedical and behavioral research collaboration, this cooperation will be based on mutual benefit, trust and shared commitment to the advancement of scientific knowledge and its application to improve health.

Specific areas to be addressed within this programme include: Prevention and treatment of leading causes of maternal, neonatal, and pediatric morbidity and mortality (including toxemia, hemorrhage, sepsis, birth asphyxia and trauma, accidents, diarrhea and other infectious diseases, etc; Prevention and treatment of low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation; Maternal and Child nutrition and the role of micronutrients in healthy child bearing and pediatric and adolescent health and development; and Birth defects, genetic disorders, and developmental research.

Specific areas for this programme also include: Improved understanding of pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases in women and children, including childhood asthma, acute respiratory tract infections, gastrointestinal infections, reproductive tract infections, malignancies, and HIV/AIDS; Reproductive health including socio-behavioral aspects, birth practices, and evaluation of new contraceptives; Traditional systems of medicine and practices that have an important impact on the health and wellbeing of women, children, and adolescents; Emergency obstetric care for miscarriages and other problems of pregnancy, including severe preeclampsia, hemorrhage, and embolism; and Relationship among maternal nutrition, fetal growth/development, and degenerative diseases in later life, and Analysis, consensus building and policy formulation on public health benefits of new approaches to improve maternal and child health.