Fact Sheet on Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases

Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases

Major national research funding agencies from around the world convened to announce the formation of a new global health initiative called the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD). The launch of the GACD occurred on June 15, 2009, in Seattle, and coincided with the meeting there of Heads of International Research Organizations.
The GACD seeks to coordinate research activities that address on a global scale the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The alliance members will collectively seek to identify common approaches to develop the evidence base needed to guide policy, develop and share best practices for fighting chronic diseases, and foster a sustainable and significant reduction of illness, disability, and death around the world.
The GACD is the first of its kind, for no alliance of major research funding agencies currently exists to address the specific needs of chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCDs).
The GACD focuses on the CNCDs in low- to middle-income countries and low-income populations of more developed countries to support collaborative, coordinated research on low-cost interventions and to build capacity in research and health care delivery.
The GACD has a global reach, bringing together an initial formative group of six major national research funding agencies. These agencies, together, represent about 80 percent of all public research funding in the world. Member agencies are:

Australia’s National Health Medical Research Council*
Canadian Institutes of Health Research*
China’s Ministry of Health in association with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences*
The U.K.’s Medical Research Council *
The U.S.’s National Institutes of Health*, specifically its National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the Fogarty International Center (FIC), and the National Institute of Mental Health
The Indian Medical Research Council*
The Medical Research Council of South Africa
The National Biomedical Research Institute (Q-BRI) fo the State of Qatar

*indicates founding member organization

Industry has an important role in solving some of these problems and the GACD intends to work with the commercial sector, ensuring the public-private aspect of this venture.
The GACD has consulted with the World Health Organization (WHO) and has invited them to participate in an advisory capacity. WHO has expressed support for the creation of the GACD.
The World Heart Federation, the National Instititute for Medical Research of Tanzania and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO-WHO) have agreed to participate as Alliance Partners. (Alliance Partners are organizations which are strongly committed to Alliance objectives and values, but do not have health research funding as their primary objective).

The GACD takes its origin in the Grand Challenges Partnership first announced in Nature in 2007.
This partnership was inspired by a recent study involving a Delphi panel recruited from 50 countries around the world.
The study identified 20 Grand Challenges in chronic noncommunicable diseases and highlighted a set of priorities to address the burden of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and certain cancers. This largely preventable, yet relatively ignored and under-resourced, group of conditions cause the greatest global share of death and disability, accounting for around 60 percent of all deaths worldwide. In low- and middle-income countries, the burden is especially significant and is projected to rapidly rise.
The Grand Challenges Global Partnership was designed to be a coordinating body for research-funding organizations in order to harmonize efforts among other relevant initiatives in hopes of expanding the partnership, forging collaborative research opportunities, and monitoring progress towards meeting the 20 Grand Challenges.
The development of the GACD has been facilitated by the Oxford Health Alliance supported by Dalberg Global Development Advisors.

The GACD plans to avoid duplication by facilitating collaborative funding activities for innovative, original research directed at the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, especially where the need for robust evidence to inform policy is most urgent.
The members of the GACD have agreed on a number of priorities for early studies that will be followed by a more extensive program as the alliance evolves. These priorities will be taken into account in collaboration with the prioritized research agenda developed by the WHO, the 2008-2013 Action Plan for the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases.
The creation of the GACD brings to fruition a global commitment to urgently increase the resources and attention to chronic noncommunicable diseases, which constitute the major burdens of illness and disability in almost all countries of the world.
With concerted action, many millions of premature deaths can be averted in the decade ahead. The formation of this alliance brings us closer to developing a serious, funded course of action.

Last Updated: November 16, 2009