The US announced $122 million in funding to India’s top three medical research institutions to prevent avoidable epidemics, detect disease threats early, and respond quickly and effectively.

The total funding of $122,475,000 will be allocated over five years to three of India’s three health research institutes – the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE).

On Wednesday, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the fund will accelerate the process of building a safe and secure India from the threat of infectious diseases through the ICMR agency’s focus on emerging and re-emerging pathogens.

Priorities include detecting and controlling zoonotic disease outbreaks through hygienic approaches, assessing vaccine safety surveillance systems, improving the capacity of public health personnel in field epidemiology and outbreak response, and combating.

The CDC said ICMR is uniquely positioned to carry out this work as it was initially the apex agency for developing, coordinating and promoting biomedical research in India, where it has undertaken most laboratory-based infectious disease surveillance work in the last few years.

From September 30, 2022, eligibility for funding is limited to ICMR and ICMR institutions, including the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and the National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) in Chennai.

ICMR is the apex governing body of numerous national institutions that are centres of excellence and reference centres in specific scientific fields in India, namely the National Institute of Virology, National Institute of Epidemiology, etc.

These agencies are mandated by the Ministry of Family Health and Welfare (MoHFW) to oversee laboratory confirmation of priority pathogens in India in a tiered manner and to collate and analyse surveillance data for public health actions, working closely with the state, the press release added, the government where these institutions are located.