Dr Bontha V. Babu
Director-in-Charge
ICMR-NIIRNCD, JodhpurEmail: director-niirncd[at]icmr[dot]gov[dot]in
Tel. +91-291-2722403
Dr Bontha V. Babu is currently the Director-in-Charge of the NIIRNCD, along with his regular responsibility as the Head of the Socio-Behavioural, Health Systems & Implementation Research Division in the headquarters of the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi. He was on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Expert Panel on Parasitic Diseases (Filarial Infections) and WHO/TDR’s Scientific Working Group on Lymphatic Filariasis. He is an implementation research scientist with PhD in anthropology and post-graduate diploma in applied statistics, received from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. His other area of interest is community-based health promotion and disease prevention interventions. He has expertise in disease control programme development & evaluation; qualitative research including ethnography; research & programme management, training; health education & communication strategies, etc. He coordinated nationwide multicentric studies on migrants’ health care and the health system's response to road traffic injuries. He is undertaking several public health interventions and implementation research in 21 tribal districts in the country to improve access to and quality of health care in the context of universal health coverage. In addition, he is involved in funding and managing research projects on socio-behavioural and health systems research in ICMR. He published about 190 papers and a dozen book chapters. He is associated with several professional bodies and journals.
The institute is located in Jodhpur and it replaces the erstwhile Desert Medicine Research Centre. As the name suggests, our focus is on conducting research to identify and innovate methods to tackle the rising threats of Non-communicable diseases (NCDs). NCOs have a wide spectrum. It encompasses all body organ systems as well as the psychological states. The diseases have myriad pathology, including chronic inflammatory conditions, malignant changes, immunological disorders, genetic pathologies to name a few. Equally diverse are the clusters of risk factors that contribute to pathogenesis of non-communicable diseases. The risk diversity is not restricted to life styles and human behaviour but also span the geography, climate, weather and other physical factors. Out understanding of etiopathogensis of several NCDs are evolving and to effectively prevent, control and treat, we need to continue to research and explore these complex phenomena in greater detail and with more sincerity.There are impacts of communicable diseases on their organ system which fall in the domain of Non-Communicable diseases. In order to explore and understand this relationship, we need to develop an interface between communicable diseases & non-communicable diseases. This is especially relevant due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic where the viral infection is causing damage to organ systems like pulmonary fibrosis, vascular thromboembolism, and mental health changes. The task is humungous and the challenges are formidable and therefore the resolve, commitment and efforts need to be matching in competency, dimension and reach. It requires cooperation from all domains of humans living on this planet. I welcome all those who have the capacity, skill, strength and above all, aptitude and willingness, to come forward to join hands with us to develop feasible solutions and implementable ideas and convert them to actionable policy recommendations, so that the battle against NCDs are won and the human race lives a better, disease free life in times to come.