Fogarty International Center announces initial awards for international studies on health and economic development

National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD - The Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces its intention to fund 10 research grant awards under the new International Studies on Health and Economic Development (ISHED) Program. FIC spearheaded the development of the ISHED, working closely with four co-sponsors at the NIH: the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, in collaboration with The World Bank's Global Development Network (GDN). The combined commitment from FIC and the ISHED partners is approximately $2.2 million for the first year of these five-year awards. Total support for this program will be approximately $10 million over the next five years.

This innovative new program will support studies in an effort to understand the complex relationship between health and economic growth in low- and middle-income nations. Although it is widely accepted that better education can lead to improved economic performance, the relationship between better health and the alleviation of poverty has not been fully explored in low- and middle-income countries. The first grants awarded through the ISHED competition are designed to determine the extent to which population health status and mental health status serve as predictive indicators of economic performance using a wide range of research methodologies and testable hypotheses.

"The NIH has a major interest in ensuring that research contributes to improved health and well-being. The ISHED will significantly stimulate research activity in this area," said FIC Director Gerald T. Keusch, M.D." on behalf of the co-sponsoring agencies. "By bridging disciplinary interests and bringing together development and health economists with medical epidemiologists, behavioral scientists, demographers, and other health professionals, we expect to promote the exploration of new concepts, develop new methodologies, and analyze new experimental data." Noting in particular the partnership with the GDN, Keusch emphasized that "alliances between the NIH and other national and international agencies addressing global health are an essential strategy for creating the needed research environment and human capacity to address these complex issues. Partnerships such as the ones that underpin the ISHED are vital to advancing long-term global health goals." He added, "We anticipate a subsequent re-competition of the ISHED in FY 2003."

Five of the ISHED awards are full five-year grants, and five are at a reduced level for two years and are intended to support further development of the research approach and methods for potential future funding.

The following researchers are intended recipients of ISHED awards:

Dr. Linda Adair of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will work with colleagues at the University of San Carlos, the Philippines on a project measuring the effect of health on education and work in Filipino youth. The research is expected to demonstrate how multiple aspects of health care and nutrition at an early age influence school performance and future earnings both through impacts on physical and intellectual abilities.

Dr. Jere Behrman of the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues at the University of San Carlos, the Philippines will perform a longitudinal study of Filipino early childhood development. The research will pinpoint how early childhood interventions may improve children's performance in school and identify how conditions in the family and community affect that connection.

Dr. Angus Deaton of Princeton University will collaborate with faculty at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa to investigate the interrelationships between poverty, inequality, and health in economic development. The researchers will use survey data to investigate how social status and income inequality affect health and well-being of people of all ages in South Africa.

Dr. Reynaldo Martorell of Emory University and colleagues at the Instituto de Nutricion de Centro America y Panama in Guatemala City, Guatemala will collaborate on a study examining links between early nutrition, human capital, and economic productivity. The researchers will explore how better nutrition during early childhood can improve a person's health and mental health status and ability to be productive as an adult in the workplace.

Dr. Duncan Thomas of the Rand Corporation and colleagues at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia will examine how the health of individuals over a long period of time affects the work they do, how much they work, their purchasing and savings behavior, and other important economic measures. This research will improve our understanding of the relationship between health and development at the individual level.

The following researchers are intended recipients of two-year ISHED awards to further develop their proposals for research in Africa and Latin America:

Dr. Ana Hurtado of the University of New Mexico will work with the Centro de Salud in Igatimi, Paraguay to study how ethnicity affects the connections between health and economic outcomes among indigenous populations. The researchers will examine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of community-based health improvements.

Dr. Edward Miguel of the University of California, Berkeley will develop a project with the Ministry of Health in Nairobi, Kenya to examine how a specific improvement in child health can affect educational and employment prospects in western Kenya. The researchers will also explore what factors most affect a family's decision to adopt a new health care tool for their children.

Dr. Mark Pauly of the University of Pennsylvania will collaborate with colleagues at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa to assess the impact of poor health and HIV/AIDS on small businesses and the local economies where they are located in South Africa.

Dr. Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard University will work with colleagues at the Regional Malaria Control Commission in Durban, South Africa, to measure the economic impact of malaria in southern Africa.

Dr. Jonathan Simon of Boston University will work with the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit in Kericho, Kenya and the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya to study the impact of diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS on agricultural labor productivity and economic development in western Kenya.

FIC is the international component of the NIH. FIC promotes and supports scientific discovery internationally to reduce disparities in global health. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Fact sheets, press releases, and other FIC-related materials are available at http://www.nih.gov/fic.