Word from the President

The Acting President of the MRC, Prof. William Pick, provides some information on exciting new developments in the organistion.

Internationalisation of the MRC
In keeping with the MRC's increased internationalisation, a high-level meeting took place in Bellagio, Italy in February. This was attended by twenty participants who discussed the formation of an International Collaborative Network of Institutes of Health/Medical Research Councils.

Institutions represented were the Canadian Institutes of Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, INSERM, Global Forum for Health Research, WHO, Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, National Institutes of Health through its Fogarty International Center, UK Center for the Management of Intellectual Property in Health Research, the British MRC, Boston University, Wellcome Trust, the Mexican National Institute of Public Health, Oxford University, Thailand Ministry of Public Health, Human Frontier Science Program and the MRC. This network also includes the Indian Council of Medical Research.

It is expected that the launch of the collaborative will take place at the Mexico Summit for Health Research in November 2004.

A number of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) have been (and are being) concluded with sister organisations in Malaysia, Thailand, India, Mexico and Brazil. An MOU on biotechnology has been signed with the Office of Technological Cooperation in the Presidency of Iran, while a formal MOU with the Global Alliance for Tuberculosis Drug Development has been signed. These relationships will be consolidated with a series of meetings between carefully selected scientists from the participating countries. The expected outcome is the acquisition of larger grants from external sources and a strengthening of our intellectual and scientific capacity.

The MRC formed part of an official South African Government delegation at the SA-EU Joint SET Cooperation Committe meeting held in Belgium in December 2003, at which research funding in South Africa as well as the EDCTP was discussed.

Establishment of a National Programme of Research in AIDS (NAPRA)
The MRC Board has approved the establishment of a National Programme for Research in AIDS (NAPRA). The goals of NAPRA include strengthening of South African HIV/AIDS research capacity, both within intramural MRC structures, and extramurally; facilitating the synergistic interaction of all South African HIV/AIDS researchers, and to optimise their global positioning with regard to researchers and research funders worldwide; and expediting the rapid and effective translation of research findings into policy, planning and practice.