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Vadu Rural Health Program, a division of KEM Hospital Research Centre Pune has a rich tradition in health care and development being in the forefront of needs-based, issue-driven research over almost 35 years. During the decades of 1980 and 1990 the research at Vadu focused on mother and child with epidemiological and social science research exploring low birth weight, child survival, maternal mortality, safe abortion and domestic violence. The research portfolio has ever since expanded to include adult health and aging, non-communicable and communicable diseases and to clinical trials in recent years. It started with establishment of Health and Demographic Surveillance System at Vadu (HDSS Vadu) in August, 2002 that seeks to establish a quasi-experimental design setting to allow evaluation of impact of health interventions as well as monitor secular trends in diseases, risk factors and health behavior of humans. Vadu has struck research alliances with Regional, National and International Organizations. The International Institute of Information Technology, Pune is supporting Vadu in iSHARE— an eagerly watched and awaited INDEPTH Network supported initiative in data repository and sharing. IMVAC is an international collaboration with the Chest Research Foundation, Pune and the Imperial College, London to better understand COPD in developing world context. The Influenza Disease Burden India (IDBI) study in partnership with the National Institute of Virology, Pune and CDC Atlanta, is well placed to follow the influenza pandemic as it unfolds in India. Vadu's foray into large community based GCP compliant phase II/III vaccine trials for meningitis, measles, HIB and rota-virus is another important step in getting safe, effective and yet less expensive/affordable indigenously produced vaccines to licensure and use in India and globally. A recent strategic 5-year award from the Dept. of Biotechnology, GOI is helping us build capacity to develop a Core Vaccine Research Unit at Vadu. An exciting array of Translational Research (G2P studies) is ongoing at Vadu in collaboration with Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology, GOI from both Ayurvedic and disease perspective. Vadu has extensively contributed to Project Ayurgenomics: Integration of Ayurveda to Genomics for field based research. 10000 subjects from Vadu area participated in this study. Vadu has also developed a detailed phenotyping (DP) unit and molecular biology laboratory for primary investigations for this project. The DP unit includes STate of the art labs for heart rate variability testing, spirometry, skin testing, anthropometry and gustatory testing. Probably the only molecular biology lab in rural area, our lab is well equipped for RNA and DNA isolation and detection besides a dedicated fully equipped section for the clinical trials laboratory work. Today's strength of Vadu is its ability to integrate research among and rational medical service delivery to the populations with support from the community and with capacity building of this very community in conducting community or hospital based research. Vadu strives to address its research needs through partnerships and collaborations with national and international institutions guided by principles of interdependence, equality, technology transfer and joint data ownership and authorship. Above all, we believe in ethics and practice conducting utmost ethical research. |
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