The Oxford Health Alliance Summit took place in New Delhi, India, on April 19 and 20 of this year. During the event, Dr. Manuel Ramirez presented the results of the study on “Current capabilities and needs to face chronic diseases”. This study was conducted by INCAP and OPS during the years 2007 and 2009 in the 8 countries of Central America and also the Dominican Republic. At the end of the presentation, several people congratulated Dr. Ramirez and offered constructive criticism to improve the study.

 

Representatives of the 10 Centers for Excellence around the world participated in the two events. Besides Dr. Ramirez, Dr. Ana Victoria Roman and Dr. Homero Martinez also attended as CIIPEC/INCAP and the Rand Corporation representatives, respectively. RAND is a partner institution of CIIPEC.

 

At the Meeting of the Global Health Initiative Steering Committee for Chronic Diseases Prevention that took place on April 21 and 22, the CIIPEC representatives participated in three simultaneous sub-committees. Dr. Ramírez worked with the epidemiology sub-committee, Dr. Ana Victoria Roman with the training committee, and Dr. Homero Martinez with the community health promoters committee.  

 

A new financing opportunity was announced by the National Health Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to support collaborative research projects between two or more Excellence Centers. This financing opportunity has two call dates (September 2010 and March 2011), for a maximum amount of $500.000. The NHLBI representatives recommended that all centers participate with new collaborative proposals.

 

During these meetings a motion to hold the next meeting in Guatemala in April 2011 was presented and accepted.  

 

As a general result from both meetings, we gladly report that the work presented by INCAP was highly recognized and valuable suggestions for improvement were offered, and that progress was made in the planning of activities and short term results expected from each sub-committee. The proposal to hold the April 2011 meeting in Guatemala was approved, and the coordination for the elaboration of the proposal for collaborative research with other Centers for Excellence was initiated.