The National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Bhopal was established (1999) by merging the Central JALMA Institute for Leprosy (Field Unit) and Institute for Research in Medical Statistics (IRMS), Chennai. The broad objectives of the Institute cover the development of human resources in epidemiology and bio-statistics, networking of the various ICMR and non-ICMR Institutes at the national level for epidemiological purposes, and consultancy. NIE aims at effective contribution in enhancing the quality of life of Indian citizens and influence public health practice and policies through research, education and training. NIE has a mission of working with national and international partners in health research with effective use of innovative state-of-art technologies, aligning the research with all key stakeholders to generate and implement evidence-based health strategies, and setting standards in public health education besides strengthening the human resources for national public health services.

• 1. Number of ongoing projects (24). 2. Number of completed projects (05). 3. NIE has published over 450 publications [http://www.nie.gov.in/publications.php?action=pub&page=1]. 4. Capacity building initiatives: Since 2001, NIE offers a two-year, competency based Master of Applied Epidemiology-Field Epidemiology Training Programme for in-service medical officers working with state health departments. It also offers Master of Public Health (MPH) programme. 5. Intervention studies Leprosy: Conducted cosix mntrolled, double blind, randomized prophylactic leprosy vaccine trial in Chingleput district, Tamil Nadu, 1993-2002 with 171,400 leprosy-free volunteers vaccinated with one of the four vaccines (BCG, BCG+ killed M. leprae, Mycobacterium w and ICRC) or placebo. Also conducted WHO-sponsored controlled trials of single dose of Rifampicin, Ofloxacin, Minocycline (ROM) for treatment of paucibacillary leprosy that demonstrated comparable efficacy of ROM to WHO-MDT for onths., and coordinated WHO-TDR supported multi-centric trial of Uniform multi-drug therapy (U-MDT) for all pauci and multi-bacillary leprosy patients. 6. Traditional medicine: Central Bio-statistical Monitoring Unit (CBMU) conducted multi-centric trials for six disease conditions including trials on Ksharasootra for fistula-in-ano and Vijayasar for type 2 diabetes. 7. Rabies: Multi-centric bridging study on intra-dermal administration of tissue culture anti rabies vaccines (Abhayrab PVRV, Coonoor PVRV, Rabipur PCECV). 8. Cohort studies on Non-communicable diseases and HIV/AIDS: Initiated cohort study for cardiovascular risk factors in a rural population in Tamil Nadu covering more than 10,000 adults residing in 11 villages of Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu in 2005-07, and etablished the cohort of injection drug usersin Chennai determine the effect of HIV, co-morbidities, HAART use and drug use on nutritional and metabolic abnormalities among IDUs. 9. Cross-sectional studies on Leprosy, HIV/AIDS, non communicable diseases & non-communicable diseases: Estimated the risk of disability among leprosy patients after release from treatment, conducted surveys and managed the data for Integrated behavioral and biological Assessment (IBBA), estimated the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and sexual practices among the injection drug users in Chennai and their regular sex partners, and conducted a mixed methods cross-sectional survey in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu to estimate the HIV/HSV2 prevalence and associated risk factors among truck drivers and their wives using audio computer-assisted interview (ACASI) system. 10. NIE has also cross-sectional study of cardiovascular disease risk factors among industrial workers in Chennai, 2004-05 and a pilot study in restaurants and educational institutions in Chennai. 11. NIE conducts health systems research 12. Disease surveillance: Coordinated the multi-centric, hospital based surveillance for rotavirus disease among under-five children in 10 hospitals in 7 different regions of India. 13. NIE conducted methodological studies on Brainstormed solutions to problems in the use of Geographical Information System in Public Health through series of workshops in 2011-12, developed a new approach " Reverse Tracking Method” for HIV, identified an alternative approach to analyze data collected by respondent driven sampling method, developed modules for systematic outbreak investigations, developed a simulation mathematical model for leprosy (SIMLEP) to project epidemiologic trends over time, and validated usefulness of lot quality assurance sampling for leprosy elimination monitoring under field conditions. 14. NIE has got into international, national and regional collaborations.