NIHR Global Health Research Centre for non-communicable diseases launched in Dhaka

The recently established NIHR Global Health Research Centre for Non-communicable Diseases and Environmental Change has launched its operations in Dhaka.

The research centre was inaugurated at a seminar organised by the Non-Communicable Disease Control (NCDC) Programme of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and icddr,b, in partnership with Imperial College London, UK, The George Institute for Global Health, India, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, India, and University of Brawijaya, Indonesia. 

The centre is developing a programme of policy-relevant research, research capacity strengthening, and community engagement to tackle the dual challenges of a rapidly growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the threat of global environmental change in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and improve the delivery of high-quality, equitable services for this dual threat, especially for the marginalised population most impacted by environmental change.

In Bangladesh, storm surges caused by tropical cyclones have led to an increase in water salinity across the coastal belt. This has harmful health effects on local populations, including increased blood pressure, progressive kidney disease, and gestational hypertension in pregnant women.

Utilising the government's existing primary healthcare systems, the centre will work to identify and test cost-effective, sustainable solutions to reduce salinity, with a focus on hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic kidney diseases in the coastal districts of Koyra upazila, Khulna, and Ashasuni upazila, Satkhira, Bangladesh.

It will also work towards strengthening primary healthcare in Bangladesh and develop multi-sectoral interventions through active engagement with communities that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental change and non-communicable diseases.

At the launch, icddr,b Executive Director Dr Tahmeed Ahmed delivered the welcome address and expressed the hope that the centre will be able to develop low-cost sustainable solutions to prevent and address non-communicable diseases through research. 

Health Minister Zahid Maleque, the chief guest at the programme, highlighted various government initiatives to combat non-communicable diseases, including the eight state-of-the-art hospitals under construction in each division. 

He said, "I hope that the research and evidence generated by the NIHR Global Health Research Centre will be instrumental in policy making and strategic decisions to combat non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh. The centre and icddr,b will receive all the necessary assistance from my ministry to implement this initiative."

The Bangladesh centre will be directed by Dr Aliya Naheed, scientist (non-communicable diseases) of icddr,b, in collaboration with the NCDC, Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), and Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB). 

The University of Dhaka, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Imperial College of London, and the University of Portsmouth UK will provide technical support to the research facility.