U.S.-Israel Cooperation in Health

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in 1985 between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Israeli Ministry of Health. It was extended for five year periods in 1990 and May 1995. This MOU provides for the exchange of information and scientific, administrative and academic personnel; education and training of manpower; conferences and symposia and mutually agreed upon collaborative projects addressing common problems concerning:

  • Planning of health manpower and services;

  • Health services research, including evaluation and assessment of health services, health care technologies and delivery systems, health economics, financing of health services and health care cost containment;

  • Health information systems, including statistical methodologies;

  • Health related areas concerning food and drugs;

  • Public health, including such areas as epidemiology, environmental health, occupational health, nutrition and preventive services; and

  • Biomedical research.

Americans and Israelis engage in a vibrant exchange of information on a variety of subjects including pharmaceuticals, food safety, substance abuse and health promotion. Binational symposia are held every two years, alternately in Israel and in the United States. The topics covered to date include: regionalization of health care; biomedical research; health technology assessment; aging/substance abuse and the contemporary role of primary health care and public health.

On December 2-3, 1998, the Department of Health and Human Services convened a bi-national conference on women’s health, held in Jerusalem. Hundreds of women’s health leaders from both countries discussed common issues such as breast cancer, heart disease, working women’s health, and prevention strategies for adolescent risky behaviors. HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and Israeli Minister of Health Yehoshoua Matza gave keynote addresses.

Shalala and Matza had met previously in 1997, when Matza visited the U.S. to discuss issues of health The two health leaders have also been working with Dr. Gro Brundtland, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, to attack global health issues from tobacco to infectious disease.

Medical Research

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) award grants and contracts to Americans working with Israelis or directly to Israelis. Israel is typically one of the highest foreign recipients of NIH grants and contracts. Research grants are nonpolitical and are awarded solely based on academic merit.

Israelis are also among the most frequent participants in NIH’s visitors program. Each year, up to six International Research Fellowship Awards are given to young Israeli scientists for postdoctoral biomedical and life sciences research.

In 1992, Israel also reached an agreement to obtain access to NIH’s computerized medical database.

The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) was instrumental in organizing the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC) in 1996. The MECC agreement was signed by the Ministers of Health of Israel, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, and the Consortium focuses on cancer surveillance, information and education. It has assigned task forces on lymphoma, cancer registration and epidemiology, breast cancer, pediatric oncology and quality assurance. The director of NCI will serve on the Board of Governors as the U.S. representative.

In 1995, three joint U.S. - Israel research groups worked together to study breast cancer. The scientists jointly tested 858 DNA samples of Ashkenazi Jews, those originally from Eastern Europe, to determine if the group is naturally predisposed to the disease. Based on results from the cooperative research, NIH plans to launch a series of clinical studies to evaluate cancer risk in Ashkenazi Jews.

Several projects are underway in 2001:

· U.S. and Israeli scientists working cooperatively at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NAIMS) discovered the gene for familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) and three gene mutations that cause this disease. The researchers hope to improve treatments of FMF and other diseases where the symptoms include excessive inflammation.

· The Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry (EDB) program is investigating disabilities in subsets of the Israeli population defined by country of origin, residence on a kibbutz and other factors.

· The Soroka Medical Center of Ben-Gurion University and Columbia University are collaborating and conducting research on diarrheal diseases in Arab and Jewish children. Their goal is to "delineate the mechanisms underlying symptomatic versus asymptotic infection with Cryptosporidium, Giardia lamblia, and E. coli in children."

· The Washington University School of Medicine is conducting research "to clarify the genetic basis of the metabolic defects of type 2 diabetes." The focus of their studies is the Ashkenazi Jewish population in Israel." The goal is to make it easier to detect genes for diabetes.

Israel is a leader also in the development of medical technology and Israeli researchers have made a number of breakthroughs in a variety of areas of medical research. Israelis also engage in a wide range of joint projects with American researchers in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.