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US$ 17 million available for tobacco research in developing countries

At the end of June, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and WHO announced the creation of a joint programme to fund research on tobacco consumption and its impact on health in developing countries. The international tobacco health research and capacity building programme, as it is called, has pledged US$ 17 million for research that will cover a wide range of possible topics, such as the interaction of smoking and diet on the development of heart disease, or tobacco as a cause of lung cancer and respiratory disease, or the link between smoking and psychiatric disorders in adolescents. Despite the fact that about half of the 4 million tobacco-related deaths occur in developing countries, most research on tobacco to date has focused on industrialized countries. Interested researchers seeking a grant from this programme, which is run by the NIH, should submit a "request for applications" on a form available from <http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-TW-02-005.html>, tel. +1 301 435 0714, email <GrantsInfo@nih.gov>.