The Medical Research Council Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Health April 12, 2005 http://www.mrc.ac.za

MRC BUILDING A HEALTHY NATION THROUGH RESEARCH Cape Town Durban Pretoria A Statutory Council – one of 9 Science Councils Established by Act of Parliament 9% of Science Vote Turnover ~R350 million (60% baseline) Staff 800 47 Intra- and Extra-mural Research Units

VISION Building a healthy nation through research MISSION To improve the nation’s health status and quality of life through relevant and excellent health research aimed at promoting equity and development

Executive Management Committee Board President Environment and Development Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit Exercise Science and Sports Medicine Research Unit Health and Development Research Group Health Promotion Research and Development Group Environmental and Occupational Health Research Group Infection and Immunity HIV and AIDS Research Lead Programme Clinical and Biomedical Tuberculosis Research Unit Diarrhoeal Pathogens Research Unit Genital Ulcer Disease Research Unit HIV Prevention and Vaccine Research Unit South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative Immunology of Infectious Disease Research Unit Inflammation and Immunity Research Unit Malaria Research Lead Programme Operational and Policy Tuberculosis Research Group Pneumococcal and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit South African Traditional Medicines Research Unit Tuberculosis Research Lead Programme Non Communicable Disease Anxiety and Stress Disorders Research Unit Cancer Epidemiology Research Group Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle Research Unit Crime, Violence and Injury Lead Programme Diabetes Research Lead Programme Interuniversity Cape Heart Research Group Medical Imaging Research Unit PROMEC Unit Molecules to Disease Bioinformatics Capacity Development Research Unit Bone Research Unit Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology Human Genetics Research Unit Human Genomic Diversity and Disease Research Unit Liver Research Centre Molecular Hepatology Research Unit Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit Oesophageal Cancer Research Group SA MRC/British MRC Receptor Biology Research Group Indigenous Knowledge Systems Research Lead Programme Woman and Child Health Gender and Health Research Unit Maternal and Infant Health Care Strategies Research Unit Mineral Metabolism Research Unit Nutritional Intervention Research Unit Health Systems and Policy Burden of Disease Research Unit Biostatistics Unit Cochrane Centre Health Policy Research Group Health Systems Research Unit National Telemedicine Lead Programme

Number of associated deaths for the ten leading reported natural causes of death in 2001 Percentage Tuberculosis Influenza and pneumonia Other forms of heart disease Stroke Hypertensive heart disease Chronic bronchitis General Symptoms and Signs Ischaemic heart disease Resp and cardiac in perinatal period Diabetes mellitus HIV disease TOTAL 56 985 55 115 48 927 31 104 27 622 20 136 19 454 17 380 17 191 16 207 9 479 339 928 16.1 15.5 13.7 8.7 7.8 5.9 5.7 5.1 4.8 2.8 100 Careful interpretation of the mortality profile in South Africa indicates a quadruple burden of disease with the addition of HIV/AIDS to a combination of pre-transitional conditions related to under-development and poverty, such as, tuberculosis and diarrhoeal diseases, the emerging chronic conditions associated with a Western lifestyle and high rates of injuries all contributing substantially to the number of deaths (Bradshaw et al., 2003). This slide shows the Top twenty single causes of premature mortality Top cause of premature mortality is AIDS followed by homicide, TB, RTAs and Diarrhoea Again the quadruple burden is demonstrated with HIV/AIDS deaths, Injury deaths due to homicide, RTA, suicide, group 1 deaths due to TB, Diarrhoea, LBW etc and Group 2 deaths such as Stroke, IHD, DM and hypertension appearing amongst top twenty causes of premature mortality. Source: Statistics South Africa 2005