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UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme
for research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) Announces Collaborative
Research Grants, 26 February 2004
I. RATIONALE AND
BACKGROUND
The UNDP/World Bank/WHO
Special Programme for Research and Training in
Tropical Diseases (TDR) invites applications for the award of Collaborative
Research Grants (CRGs) to research institutions and
scientists from least developed endemic countries (LDCs),
and from high-burden countries for TDR target diseases on the following two
research areas defined by the Steering Committee on Social, Economic, and Behavioral
Research (SEB):
 Determinants of inequality of access to
prevention, therapy and information; and
Implications of changing economic, social,
political and civil structures (including health reforms) for disease
persistence, emergence, resurgence and factors affecting them such as drug
and insecticide resistance.
Please consult the TDR WebPages for social research:
http://www.who.int/tdr/topics/social-research/default.htm
for focus research areas and the current work plan.
As outlined in basic documents on the website, SEB aims to
promote and support research that critically examines social, economic and behavioural issues related to disease persistence and
emergence and contributes to innovative thinking about improved control and
prevention of TDR diseases. Despite significant, global efforts over the last
50 years, communicable diseases continue to obstruct social and economic
development in developing countries, and disproportionately affect the
poorest and most marginali zed populations. A
better understanding of how social, behavioural,
political, economic and health system factors operate to affect disease
patterns and disease control efforts will be important for identifying future
needs, opportunities and innovations for improved control of TDR diseases
(African trypanosomiasis, Chagas
disease, dengue fever, leishmaniasis, leprosy,
lymphatic filariasis, malaria, onchocerciasis,
schistosomiasis, and tuberculosis).
Collaborative Research Grants are the main type of
research grant awarded by TDR. They are intended to support goal-oriented
research.
II. SPECIFIC
OBJECTIVES
Through this call, SEB requests research proposals on the
following:
A. Inequality of
access to prevention, therapy and information
What factors affect access of populations to prevention,
existing therapies, and information regarding TDR diseases? Factors that
could be examined include those at the household/community, health systems
and services, and non-health sectors/central government levels and may
examine a wide range of inequalities (i.e., social, socio-economic,
political, geographic, gender- or ethnicity-related inequalities). SEB is
particularly interested in studies that consider two or more levels of
analysis and the links between them. Examples could include "Identifying
and differentially weighting the factors promoting the emergence of
drug-resistant malaria in ..." or investigating "Social
inequalities and the emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis in ...:
linking molecular epidemiology with social analysis".
Research questions of particular interest include but need
not be confined to:
How can governments extend access and
improve equity through provision, financing and regulation? An example may
entail 'An economic and social science analysis of provision for disease
control programs in contracts between the Central Board of Health and
District Health Management teams in country x'.
What are the implications of different
kinds of public/private partnerships for equity in access to pharmaceuticals
and services.
What can be learned from existing or past
partnerships, and how might we best assess their impact on equity? To what
extent are the needs of vulnerable populations being met through such
partnerships? Partners might include the public sector, private-for-profit
firms, donors, NGOs etc.
How can different approaches for increasing
access to proven therapies, prevention and information be best utilized to
contribute to improved disease control? (An example may be investigating
"Changes in access to information about treatment and prevention of malaria
in urban and rural (name of country)". seen in the context of exposure
to new communication channels and media and general socio-cultural factors.
B. Implications of
changing economic, social, political and civil structures for infectious
disease persistence, emergence and resurgence; and for drug and pesticide
resistance
Globalization may have potential for certain people and
population groups, however, for poor marginalized populations, in both the
non-formal as well as formal economic sectors of developing countries, globalization
can bring along more inequality, more marginalization and more poverty. Globalization
brings about the need to develop new approaches to public health.
Specifically, for the ten TDR disease, we don't exactly know how processes of
globalization affect disease control efforts and/or the epidemiology of
infectious disease. Research questions of particular interest include but
need not be confined to:
What is the impact (positive and negative)
of large-scale economic processes and policies on the production and
availability of effective drugs, diagnostics and vaccines? Examples of some
large scale processes that might be examined are questions of intellectual
property rights, trade agreements, decentralization and/or privatization of
services.
What are the global forces and conditions
promoting or retarding the development and equitable distribution of
effective preventive, diagnostic, and/or therapeutic technologies?
What are the social, economic and political
determinants of drug use patterns (at household, community, health systems
and central government levels), and what are the implications of these, e.g.,
for drug resistance.
How are household choices and actions
constrained or enabled by local and large scale forces and processes?
III. HOW THE
STEERING COMMITTEE WORKS
The SEB Steering Committee holds one meeting per year (in
May) during which it updates its work plan, reviews new research proposals
and monitors overall progress of the Committee. The Committee invites individual
research projects with budgets normally not to exceed $35,000 per year for a
period of one to two years. The committee is particularly interested in
supporting projects that involve South-South and South-North partnerships
between institutions and individuals that will contribute to research
capacity building for social science research in disease endemic countries.
For group projects and, in exceptional cases individual projects, the
Committee will consider projects requiring greater levels of funding.
IV. HOW TO APPLY
Detailed Proposal Development Guidelines for SEB research
are available on the TDR website at: http://www.who.int/tdr/topics/social-research/guidelines.htm
and should be closely followed while developing the proposal. Collaborative
Research Grant (CRG) application forms and instructions are available from TDR at http://www.who.int/tdr/grants/grants/collgrant.htm.
Please note the committee's ground rules for proposal
submission:
A. DEVELOPING THE PROPOSAL
1. The proposal should include a title that
clearly covers the entire study.
2. Within the prescribed length of four to six
pages (TDR form page 7 plus additional three to five pages), the proposal
must have:
a. A
problem statement and a short and concise background of the research problem,
including a description of the relevance to the call for applications and the
research problem's significance to TDR diseases.
b. A
short literature review pertaining to the research problem.
c. An
analytic conceptual framework
d. Clearly
stated general and specific research objectives. The proposal should show
congruence between objectives and methods, and between general and specific
objectives.
e. Theoretical
and operational definitions of terms
f. A clearly described methodology, including
research design, sampling design and sample size, research techniques,
research instrument indicators, and plans for data management and analysis.
g. An
explicit statement regarding ethical concerns with strategies how to address
them.
h. A
realistic time plan
i. A description of the roles of each designated
investigator
j. A dissemination plan, including if and how
policy makers and other stakeholders might be involved
k. A
budget according TDR's rules for admissible items
for support
B. SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL
3. The proposal must be submitted on time
4. The proposal must be submitted on TDR forms
5. The proposal must be submitted with original
signatures of institutional representatives and PIs. Proposals
submitted only via e-mail will not be reviewed at the meeting of the steering
committee
6. Incomplete proposals and proposals submitted
after the closing date will not be reviewed
7. The proposal must be submitted with research
instruments and consent forms
8. The proposal must be submitted with national
government clearance (where needed) and ethical clearance from a national
ethical review board. Proposals without these clearances cannot be reviewed.
C. THE RESEARCH TEAM
9. Each research team must include a trained
social scientist experienced in multi-disciplinary work as called upon and
needed by the call for grant applications. Applicants should also consider
bringing together senior and junior social scientists
10.
The team's expertise must meet the research
objective(s) and preferably be multi-disciplinary
11.
The principal investigator (PI) should ideally
be a national of a so-called Disease-Endemic Country (DEC), i.e. a country
where the disease(s) under study is (are) endemic or occurring epidemically
and should reside in a DEC. An exception will be made for a PI-DEC national
residing in a non-DEC, e.g., "Northern country who can submit a proposal
as PI, however, only with strong involvement of DEC investigators residing in
the DC and with the DC institution as contractual "home"
institution for funding. Clarification of collaboration should be provided.
"Northern" collaborators may not act as co-investigators but may be
included as external scientists - on the research team.
Applications can be submitted in English and French only.
The steering committee encourages research teams from other major language
areas (e.g., Spanish, Lusophone, or Arabic-speaking countries) to apply in
English or French.
If you are interested in submitting a proposal to the SEB
Steering Committee an early letter of intent can be submitted to the SEB
secretariat to request feedback before developing a full proposal.
Applications will be reviewed by the Steering Committee in
May 2004.
DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS AT TDR: Thursday, 26
February 2004.
For further
details, please contact:
Dr Johannes Sommerfeld
Manager
Steering
Committee on Strategic Social, Economic and Behavioral Research (SEB)
TDR,
World Health
Organization
1211 Geneva 27,
Switzerland
Tel: (41-22)
791-3954
Fax: (41-22)
791-4854 E-mail: mailto:sommerfeldj@who.int
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