Towards sustainable partnerships in global health: the case of the CRONICAS Centre of Excellence in Chronic Diseases in Peru

Published in Global Health, v. 12(1):29
Authors

Miranda, J.J., Bernabé-Ortiz, A., Diez-Canseco, F., Málaga, G., Cárdenas, M.K., Carrillo-Larco, R.M., Lazo-Porras, M., Moscoso-Porras, M., Pesantes, M.A., Ponce, V,. Araya, R., Beran, D., Busse, P., Boggio, O., Checkley, W., García, P.J., Huicho, L., León-Velarde, F., Lescano, A.G., Mohr, D.C., Pan, W., Peiris, D., Perel, P., Rabadán-Diehl, C., Rivera-Chira, M., Sacksteder, K., Smeeth, L., Trujillo, A.J., Wells, J.C., Yan, L.L., García, H.H., Gilman, R.H.
Publication year 2016
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-016-0170-z
Affiliations

1.CRONICAS Centre of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Av. Armendáriz 497, Miraflores, Lima 18, Peru. jaime.miranda@upch.pe.
2.School of Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru. jaime.miranda@upch.pe.
3.CRONICAS Centre of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Av. Armendáriz 497, Miraflores, Lima 18, Peru.
4.School of Public Health and Administration, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
5.School of Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
6.Division of Internal Medicine, Hospital Nacional Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
7.Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
8.Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
9.University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
10.Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, Peru.
11.Division of Non-Communicable Diseases, Dirección General de Salud de las Personas, Ministerio de Salud, Lima, Peru.
12.Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
13.Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
14.Department of Pediatrics, Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño, Lima, Peru.
15.School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru.
16.School of Sciences, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
17.Department of Parasitology, and Public Health Training Program, USA Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 (NAMRU-6), Lima, Peru.
18.Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
19.Division of Environmental Science and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
20.The George Institute for Global Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
21.World Heart Federation, Geneva, Switzerland.
22.Office of Global Affairs, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Washington, DC, USA.
23.Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK.
24.Global Health Research Center, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China.
25.Center for Global Health - Tumbes, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Tumbes, Peru.
26.Cysticercosis Unit, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Neurológicas, Lima, Peru.
27.Asociación Benéfica PRISMA, Lima, Peru.
IAI Program

CRN3
IAI Project CRN3036
Keywords
Partnerships
Low- and middle-income countries
Team management
Capacity building
Training

Abstract

Human capital requires opportunities to develop and capacity to overcome challenges, together with an enabling environment that fosters critical and disruptive innovation. Exploring such features is necessary to establish the foundation of solid long-term partnerships. In this paper we describe the experience of the CRONICAS Centre of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, based at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, as a case study for fostering meaningful and sustainable partnerships for international collaborative research. The CRONICAS Centre of Excellence in Chronic Diseases was established in 2009 with the following Mission: &ldquoWe support the development of young researchers and collaboration with national and international institutions. Our motivation is to improve population&rsquos health through high quality research.&rdquo The Centre&rsquos identity is embedded in its core values &mdash generosity, innovation, integrity, and quality&mdash and its trajectory is a result of various interactions between multiple individuals, collaborators, teams, and institutions, which together with the challenges confronted, enables us to make an objective assessment of the partnership we would like to pursue, nurture and support. We do not intend to provide a single example of a successful partnership, but in contrast, to highlight what can be translated into opportunities to be faced by research groups based in low- and middle-income countries, and how these encounters can provide a strong platform for fruitful and sustainable partnerships. In defiant contexts, partnerships require to be nurtured and sustained. Acknowledging that all partnerships are not and should not be the same, we also need to learn from the evolution of such relationships, its key successes, hurdles and failures to contribute to the promotion of a culture of global solidarity where mutual goals, mutual gains, as well as mutual responsibilities are the norm. In so doing, we will all contribute to instil a new culture where expectations, roles and interactions among individuals and their teams are horizontal, the true nature of partnerships.