Question : Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a United States front line public health agency has partnered with Manipal Centre for Virus Research (MCVR) to fund and carry out illness surveillance across India;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the number of other Indian laboratories/agencies receiving funds from CDC for various research projects;

(c) whether the Government has asked CDC to stop funding the said research in India; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) & (b): Yes. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States has given a “Co-operative Agreement Grant” to Manipal Centre for Virus Research (MCVR) for a project titled “Hospital-Based Surveillance of Acute Febrile Illness in Western Ghat Region of India” under Global Health Security Agenda.

The project was implemented in Karnataka during 2014 and was extended to the States of Kerala, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Odisha during 2015-16, covering 32 hospitals for testing various aetiologies. The surveillance was completed in September, 2018 although MCVR continued diagnostic support to select sites till April 2019. In all, 17 projects were funded by CDC.


(c) & (d): In April 2019, MCVR was directed by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare that no research activities funded by Foreign funding Agencies like CDC should be undertaken without prior approval of ICMR/HMSC to avert any violations in procedural norms for research projects.