PHARMACEUTICALS EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCIL (Set up by Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India) COPY Date : 24-11-2010 News / Story reproduced with thanks: Financial Express India, US to design low-cost plan to fight diabetes menace
Soma Das Posted: Wednesday, Nov 24, 2010 at 2300 hrs IST The US and India are keen on working together on a low-cost intervention programme to combat diabetes which has emerged as a critical public health challenge for both the countries. This decision is a product of the brainstorming session of the high-powered US-India CEOs forum meeting during US President Obama s visit early this month. While exact contours of the action plan and the source of funding will be chalked out in the days to come, the preliminary road map involves rolling out the plan in three phases. Although the plan is still in a nascent stage, the three phases are being tentatively termed as direction, intervention and research & development respectively, a source said.
The health sector leadership in the US-India CEO Forum, co-chaired by David M Cote of Honeywell and Ratan Tata of Tata Sons include other representatives such as Merck & Co chairman Richard T Clark from the US and Max India chairman Analjit Singh, Apollo Hospital Group MD Preetha Reddy and Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw from the Indian side. The initial plan will study the dynamics of the disease as it is prevalent in India which implies documenting the metabolic disorder s analytics such as age, gender, economic group profile of the patients. The venture may rope in Public Health Foundation, a public-private partnership venture that was set up in 2006 to address emerging public health concerns of the country. Also, the project plans to identify villages in India where it will pilot tests for the low-cost intervention designed and scale it up subsequently if it succeeds. The collaborative venture will also involve research and development in the area of diabetes in later stages. The World Health Organization projects that India would lose around $236.6 billion of national income to diabetes and cardiovascular disease between 2005 and 2015.
The US India CEOs forum also boasts of members like Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries, SBI chairman OP Bhatt, Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, ICICI Bank chairman & MD Chanda Kochhar, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh among others. From the US side, the participation includes the likes of Louis R Chenevert, president, United Technologies Corp, James Dimon, chairman, JP Morgan Chase, Ellen J Kullman, CEO, DuPont, Indra K Nooyi, CEO PepsiCo, Vikram Pandit, CEO, Citigroup.
Apollo s Preetha Reddy said, Its true that health was an area of focus during US President Obama s visit and there was deliberation within the CEOs forum on the areas where we could and we need to work together. However, the specifics would only be revealed at an appropriate time .
Globally, around 285 million people or over 6% of population are afflicted with diabetes, according to International Diabetes Federation. The number of diabetics have almost doubled in a decade
Direct link to the News/Story:- http://www.financialexpress.com/news/india-us-to-design-lowcost-plan-to-fight-diabetes-menace/714942
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