1. The Medical Research Council
Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Health
April 12, 2005

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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
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