CIHR and CH.I.L.D. create Canadian Children Inflammatory Bowel Disease Network

Dr. Grace McCarthy, Chairman of the Board of The Foundation for Children with Intestinal and Liver Disorders (CH.I.L.D), today announced an important new partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to fund the creation of the Canadian Children Inflammatory Bowel Disease Network: A Joint Partnership of CIHR and the CH.I.L.D. Foundation. The aim of this national research network and data platform is to pursue a cure for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in children and to improve the quality of care for patients and their families who suffer from these debilitating diseases.

"I am pleased that CH.I.L.D. is providing research funding for this important challenge, and that our Government can partner with them to support research for a cure," said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. "Many children and adolescents are affected by this disease, and this partnership will help efforts to find better treatments for them."

"This partnership is an historic one, which will for the first time in Canada produce a framework to bring researchers and all stakeholders together to work collectively with their focus on a cure for pediatric IBD," said Dr. McCarthy. "It opens up opportunities to exchange information with researchers, patients and families, hastening the cure and providing better care on the way to finding the answers to these diseases. This day we are grateful for the groundbreaking decision by the Government of Canada to help us work towards a cure."

CIHR and CH.I.L.D. have launched a competition open to the best Canadian researchers in the field to create a network of at least five centres of pediatric IBD research expertise across the country. The national network and data platform will help put in place a framework to share the latest advances and best ideas in treating children with IBD, and to apply them as promptly as possible in new treatment regimens built on the principles of standardized high quality patient focused care.

Source The CH.I.L.D. Foundation