The Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) recently approved two health research projects from the Central Luzon Health Research and Development Consortium (CLHRDC) for FY 2015.

The health research projects are entitled: “Canine Rabies Vaccination Outcome Monitoring and its Implication to Rabies Control and Prevention Program in Pampanga” and “Isolation and Molecular Identification of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) from Nile Tilapia (Oreochomis niloticus) as Potential Pathogen Antagonist”. Both projects have a one-year project duration and are from Angeles University Foundation and Pampanga State Agricultural University amounting to P499,445.00 and P445,372.50, respectively.

The assistance is through the Regional Research Fund (RRF) Initiative which is viewed as a way to encourage beginning researchers to be actively involved in health research activities without having to compete with more experienced researchers. These RRF projects are intended to build up the capabilities of individual researchers in designing, implementing and managing health research projects.

CLHRDC continues to accept and review research proposals which address priority health problems/issues identified in the Regional Unified Health Research Agenda (RUHRA) and/or National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA) of the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS). Regular staff and faculty members of research institutes, medical and paramedical schools, hospitals and other health related agencies may submit proposals to the consortium, properly endorsed by the head of the agency.

Qualified proposals may also be endorsed by the consortium to other funding agencies such as the DOH-RO III, CHED-RO III and DOST – III.