Although 193 governments adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which warrant an integrated and multisectoral response to deliver on those promises, the progress has been lackadaisical in the past four years. A recent UN report has set an alarm on uneven progress on some SDGs and slipping on a few of the Global Goals in Asia Pacific region. Coordinated multisectoral response needs multidisciplinary action.

 The new MACH

 One of the ways to help prepare human resource for integrated response is training new aspirants for global health. The new MACH (Center For Multidisciplinary Research in Health Science) dedicated to a multidisciplinary approach starting from the bio-medical sciences but expanding to the other domains influencing and impact on health, was launched on Tuesday, 18th June 2019 in Milan, Italy. “MACH researchers will address global health threats from the broad perspective of the factors that cause disease among the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized populations both with a socio-economic analysis approach on health determinants and with the latest innovative technological solutions that come from immunological and microbiological research and need to be put into practice where they are needed the most. MACH will work in partnership with experts from other prestigious Italian and international centers” said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of Global Health Center, University of Milan, Italy. He spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service).

 MACH was launched at the Palazzo della Regione, in the presence of the President of Ministry of Finance of Lombardy Region, Davide Caparini, President of the third Commission of the Regional Government, Emanuele Monti, president of the School of Medicine of the University of Milan, Gianvincenzo Zuccotti, and President of the IRCSS Ca 'Granda Policlinico Hospital Foundation, Marco Giachetti.

 MACH is the result of joint action between the University of Milan and the IRCSS Ca 'Granda Policlinico Hospital Foundation to create a true center of excellence and a reference point for modern research and teaching on the subject of health in the world. The MACH will have its operational headquarters at the Policlinico of Milan, the first public IRCCS of health and scientific research in Italy, within the historical spaces of via Pace, in the City centre, that will be restored for the occasion.

 This new approach to dealing with science on a multidisciplinary manner, was illustrated by professors Andrea Gori, Mario Raviglione and Carlo Federico Perno. The debate was moderated by Rosaria Iardino, president of the Bridge Foundation.

 “The MACH aims to contribute to improving health in a comprehensive way with a new model of collaborative and synergistic research along a continuum from basic science to operational and policy research, focusing on issues concerning the determinants of health through technological and innovative solutions that come from basic research in the immunological field, infectious diseases and microbiology all permeated by a modern conception of global health” added Dr Raviglione, who is also the former Director of World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Programme.

 (Bobby Ramakant, CNS)