SUMMARY OF THE OVERALL COMPONENT
Although non-communicable diseases (NCD) represent over 80% of the disease burden in
South America, most health resources in the region are still dedicated to infectious disease and
maternal and child health. As the region completes its epidemiological, demographic and
nutritional transition, there is an urgent need to improve strategies to reduce the increasing
burden of NCD. This application describes the design and development of the South American
Center of Research Excellence in Chronic Non-communicable diseases (SACREN) to establish
research activities related to cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) prevention and control.
The Center will be hosted by two former National Heart, Lung Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI)
Centers of Excellence (COE): The South American Center of Excellence for Chronic diseases
(CESCAS) at the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS) in Buenos Aires,
Argentina which covers the Southern Cone of Latin America (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay)
and the CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases at the Universidad Peruana
Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), in Peru , both thriving research and providing a rich environment for
research capacity building in the region. In fact, both teams, which are currently supported by
NIH and other international and national funders, have a remarkable track record of successful
research in terms of publications and grants. More importantly, taken this to the next level to
establish SACREN, both CESCAS and CRONICAS will partner with the Division of Population
Sciences at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, (DFCI) and Harvard Medical School (HMS), where
both will contribute their world-class expertise and leadership in building capacity for cancer
research that spans the spectrum from prevention to treatment. SACREN will taking advantage
of the capacity building experience of the three partners and establish shared resources and
facilities to allow enhancing innovative population, translational (T4), clinical, implementation
and policy research to counter cancer and CVD. For this planning grant, SACREN will develop
two research programs in cancer and CVD epidemiology, building on the integration of the
population-based cohorts in Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. In addition, it will undertake a
pilot collaborative project on geo-mapping of GBC and GC in South America, based on GIS
technology. SACREN will develop its initial activities in Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, and
will later expand to Bolivia and Paraguay. In this regard, our proposal has been endorsed by
the current Ministers of Health of Argentina and Peru and the authorities of the national
cancer institutes and/or the Ministries of Health of all countries involved
