Explainer: Why a Japanese Public Health Institute Seeks to Tie Up with India’s NICED

In the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic when countries could not gather adequate information about the virus’s characteristics, a major public health institute of Japan has chosen to partner with NICED for information sharing and collaborative research. Why has this particular Indian institute been chosen? How will it benefit India? ETV Bharat’s exclusive report.

New Delhi: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic during which lack of information posed a big challenge, a top public health institute of Japan is now seeking to establish a network with similar institutes in other Asian countries, including India.

According to a report in the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun earlier this month, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) of Japan is planning to establish a network starting with the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Kolkata-based India’s National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (ICMR-NICED), Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, and the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.

“During the coronavirus pandemic, infections spread across national boundaries while countries were unable to adequately gather information on the virus’s characteristics, resulting in delays to take responses,” the Yomiuri Shimbun report stated. “This prompted the NIID to conclude that it is necessary to build a wide-area network. The NIID is expected to play a leading role in the network. Preparations started in fiscal 2023, and the network will be launched as early as fiscal 2026.”

According to the report, for the time being, the NIID will investigate incidences of infectious diseases in cooperation with the three other institutions, including ICMR-NICED, and accumulate data on pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria. It will also make efforts to develop testing methods and improve diagnosis technologies.

What is the National Institute of Infectious Diseases?

NIID is a governmental research institute responsible for monitoring, researching, and controlling infectious diseases in Japan. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, playing a pivotal role in public health and disease control.

NIID was established in 1981 through the merger of several existing research institutes related to infectious diseases. It is headquartered in Tokyo with its primary facility located in Shinjuku. The institute is a leading centre for infectious disease research and has a national scope, with its research and surveillance efforts extending throughout Japan.

The primary objectives of NIID are to prevent and control infectious diseases and to protect public health. The institute aims to achieve this through a combination of scientific research, surveillance, epidemiological studies, and international collaboration. Its mandate includes:

NIID closely monitors infectious disease trends in Japan, collecting and analysing data to identify outbreaks and assesses public health risks. It manages the National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (NESID), which collects data from medical institutions and public health centers to track the occurrence and spread of diseases.

The institute conducts basic and applied research on various infectious diseases, including emerging and re-emerging pathogens. It has dedicated laboratories and research groups focusing on virology, bacteriology, immunology, and other related fields. The research findings contribute to the development of new diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.

NIID collaborates with international organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other research institutions to address global health issues. It plays a role in international research collaborations, capacity building, and information exchange.

What is the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases?

Originally established as the Cholera Research Centre in 1962, it was renamed as NICED (also known as ICMR-NICED) in 1979. It conducts research and develops prevention and treatment and control strategies related to enteric diseases and HIV/AIDS. The headquarters of NICED is located in Kolkata. NICED is affiliated to and financed by the ICMR. The WHO recognised this Institute as “WHO Collaborative Centre for Research and Training on Diarrhoeal Diseases” in 1980.

NICED conducts research on acute diarrhoeal diseases of diverse etiologies as well as on typhoid fever, infective hepatitis and HIV/AIDS related epidemiological research and screening. The aim of this institute is to conduct research on these diseases in both basic and applied aspects. The institute also trains health professionals for better management and prevention of diarrhoeal diseases and for rapid and correct diagnosis of the etiological agents. Epidemiological investigations of diarrhoeal diseases are carried out in different parts of India.

During the last few years, the dimension of research activities of NICED was further broadened and extended to various other areas based on the national need like emerging threat of antimicrobial resistance; nutritional component of maternal and child health, role of environmental and climatic factors on diarrhoeal diseases like cholera, shigellosis, salmonellosis, amoebiasis; high level antimicrobial resistance in bacteria causing neonatal septicemia, surveillance of acute respiratory tract infections caused by common pathogens including influenza and other non-influenza viruses.

How will the planned tie-up between NIID and ICMR-NICED benefit India?

According to statement shared exclusively with ETV Bharat, ICMR-NICED stated that it and Japan’s NIID are premier academic institutes involved in multidisciplinary biomedical research on various infectious diseases.

“The aim of both the institutes is to study epidemiology, immunology, drug resistance and pathogenesis of infectious pathogens of public health importance to provide solutions towards reducing mortality and morbidity,” the statement read. “ICMR-NICED focuses on studies related to prevention and control of enteric infections.”

It further stated that the tie-up between NIID and ICMR-NICED is purely a research collaboration to work jointly towards fighting against infectious diseases. This collaborative research is approved by the Health Ministry Screening Committee (HMSC) and the Government of India and the findings are published in international high impact research journals which are in public domain.

“The collaborative network also benefits India through strengthening of human resources by training on new modern technologies by NIID to empower Indian scientists to compete internationally,” the ICMR-NICED statement read. “The improved research outcomes would help us to move forward by reducing the burden of infectious disease.”

Why has ICMR-NICED been chosen by Japan’s NIID for the partnership?

ICMR-NICED stated that it has a long standing collaboration with Japanese researchers in the field of diarrhoeal disease research since 1981.

“NICED executed three phases of multidisciplinary project through ICMR supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 1998 to 2008 where the Japan government gifted an ultramodern building, housing advanced laboratories equipped with the state-of-the-art instruments to strengthen the research capacity of scientists in 2006,” the statement read.

“Based on the outstanding progress made by ICMR-NICED during the JICA project, Okayama University, Japan, initiated a collaborative research project on ‘Studies on Emerging and Re-merging Infectious Diseases’ with NICED through Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) in 2007, which is currently running its fourth phase.”

The statement further added that in 2011, ICMR-NICED and NIID initiated a collaborative research project entitled ‘Laboratory–based Collaboration Network of Infectious Diseases in Asia’.

“All these research projects were initiated after getting approval from the HMSC. In continuation to the long standing Indo-Japanese collaboration, NIID, Japan is planning to extend its collaboration and tie up with ICMR-NICED in upcoming important priority areas of both the countries,” it read.

What role can NICED play in this partnership?

According to ICMR-NICED, it will work together with NIID Japan to determine the current priorities in infectious disease research in India to identify the gaps and address those gaps by advance research.

“The topics of research interest are antimicrobial resistance, bacterial infectious diseases, prevention and control of infectious diseases,” ICMR-NICED stated. “ICMR-NICED will play a pivotal role towards identifying the drivers and its mitigation such as to control the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Effective intervention required to control spread of infectious diseases. Studies will focus on measuring the disease burden; developing new diagnostics and therapeutics; implementation research such as stewardship programmes, generating awareness among health care workers and vaccine trials. Collaborative research is the key towards strengthening health system research in the country.”

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