Overview
The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) and the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/ WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) are pleased to announce the 2024-25 Call for Applications of the Joint EMRO/TDR Impact Grants for regional priorities focused on implementation research in infectious diseases of poverty.
Deadline for submission: 15 September 2024 (17:00 CEST)
Only applications from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region are eligible.
Eligible countries
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and the occupied Palestinian territory.
Proposals may only be submitted in English.
The 2024–2029 TDR strategy builds on our experience to support country-led implementation research that improves access to and scale-up of health interventions, strategies, and policies and strengthens health systems. We will work with implementers and social innovators, alongside researchers, to help democratize research and demonstrate that it is a useful and practical tool for people tackling health issues on the ground.
TDR will focus on four major global health challenges affecting infectious diseases of poverty using a One Health approach (Human Health+Animal Health+Environment).
- Epidemics and outbreaks
- Control and elimination of diseases of poverty
- Climate change’s impact on health
- Resistance to treatment and control agents
Guided by these priorities of TDR, this call supports the generation of evidence from local research for the prevention and control of infectious diseases of poverty in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries. The Call emphasizes the importance of using implementation/ operational research for ALL of the priority topics below. In addition, it welcomes research that links EMR-based healthcare delivery and disease control programmes with research/academic institutions.
2024-2025 Priority Research Areas
TDR Global Challenges
- Country-led implementation research to improve access to quality health interventions.
- Strengthening the capacity of people, institutions and societies to produce research evidence that is useful for reducing the burden of infectious diseases of poverty. (strengthening the postgraduate training scheme or strengthening links between local institutions through information sharing on trainings on implementation research).
- Engagement and collaboration with the wider global health effort to promote and facilitate the role of research for development.
Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Compare the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of physical (cryotherapy and thermotherapy) and local (antimonials) treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis.
- Measuring the burden of snake bite envenoming and risk factors in EMR countries.
Malaria and Vector Control
- Describe the epidemiology and assess the impact of malaria in urban settings in EMR, including identification of risk factors for infection.
- Role of community health volunteers (CHV) in providing malaria service as part of the integrated community case management.
- Behavior of invasive Anopheles stephensi in a new ecological niche in the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
Reverse Tuberculosis
- Evaluating the impact of contact investigation on the coverage of TB preventive treatment.
- Evaluating the impact of adequate active screening on the coverage of TB preventive treatment.
Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
- To assess the feasibility and outcomes of integrated models of care for HIV, hepatitis and STIs in primary care.
- To identify innovative solutions to scale up testing services and self-testing for HIV, hepatitis and STIs.
- Monitoring the progress of reduction of zero-dose children under the Big Catch-Up initiative in high-priority countries (as a pointer to the recovery of the health system post-pandemic).
- Assessing the BeSD (behavioral and social driver) towards the HPV vaccine in countries that recently introduced it in their routine immunization programmes.
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
- Determine optimal (feasible, accurate and cost-effective) methods and metrics to monitor antimicrobial use and consumption in the community and healthcare settings and appropriate targets to monitor progress in reducing inappropriate antimicrobial use and consumption.
- Determine the levels, patterns, trends and drivers of appropriate and inappropriate prescribing, use and consumption of access, watch and reserve (AWaRe) antibiotics across healthcare settings.
- Identify the most effective, cost-effective, acceptable, and feasible multimodal infection and prevention control strategies for reducing different types of healthcare-associated infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens across geographical and socioeconomic settings.
Eligibility criteria
Applicants submitting proposals must be researchers or health professionals working in a public health institution under the umbrella of a Ministry of Health, university or research institution, or a nongovernmental organization from one of the countries or areas listed above.
Proposals may only be submitted in English, using the eTDR system.
Applicants must demonstrate experience in operational and/or implementation research. This might include, but is not limited to, evidence of having been trained in operational /implementation research and being able to conduct research independently. Such training could include the TDR Implementation Research Toolkit, the MOOC (massive open online course) on implementation research, or another formal research training experience.
We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusivity in science.
Applications from EMR first-time qualified young researchers, female researchers, and under-represented countries are also strongly encouraged.
Selection process
Proposals will be selected on a competitive basis by WHO staff in the Regional Office and TDR. Scoring will depend on scientific merit and the public health impact of the project. Publications resulting from the supported projects and data are required to:
- follow the World Health Organization’s open access policy; and
- clearly refer to the Joint EMRO/TDR Impact Grants Scheme support, indicating the TDR grant number.
Funds: US$ 8000–$10 000 per grant. Co-funding from domestic or other sources is encouraged.
Study duration: 6–9 months
HOW TO APPLY
Applications should be submitted online no later than 15 September2024 (17:00 CEST), through the eTDR Community Site. You will need to create an account (if you don’t already have one) on the site and log in before you can apply.
Before you start the online application process, please complete the form linked below:
The application form must be completed, signed appropriately, and uploaded in eTDR as part of your online application. Please also include all investigators’ current curriculum vitae (CV).
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
In case of questions/information related to administrative documentation, please contact:
Dr Arshad Altaf ([email protected]) or Ms Dalya Mostafa ([email protected])
If you encounter technical issues with the online submission, please consult the document with instructions on how to apply to Call for Proposals in eTDR system.
If your issue is still not resolved, please contact: Ms Elisabetta Dessi ([email protected])
Application Due Date / Time: 9/15/2024, 5:00 PM
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