Call for Proposals: Catalyzing Adoption of an Expanded Vector Control Toolbox to Fight Malaria

Deadline: 25-Aug-23

Unitaid is pleased to announce a call for proposals aimed at building and refining effective delivery strategies for new vector control tools to catalyze adoption and address emerging threats

Objectives

• Recognizing these evidence generation and market entry support needs, Unitaid is launching this Call for Proposals to build and catalyze uptake of an expanded vector control toolbox to fight malaria. The main objectives of this Call for Proposals are the following:
  • To build the epidemiological and operational evidence needed to inform deployment and integration of new vector control tools within the wider malaria control toolbox, focusing on cost-effectiveness, and operational deployment strategies in specific settings.
  • To establish healthy market conditions for new vector control tools, including supply security and sustainable pricing, through activities such as demand forecasting, cost-of-goods analyses, product evaluations and regulatory support.

Call scope

• Tools
• Unitaid will consider proposals that support introduction of new vector control tools that expand the existing toolbox and meet the following criteria:
  • New tools must be intended for use against malaria, and should aim to address one or more of the key challenges described (e.g. insecticide resistance, residual transmission, invasive vectors)
  • New tools must belong to the intervention classes and prototype/products under WHO Vector Control Advisory Group (VCAG) review for assessment of public health value
  • New tools must be on track to be considered for a WHO recommendation by 2025/2026.

Areas of work

• Proposals are solicited for the following interventions.
  • Operational research on new vector control tools and delivery strategies to accelerate uptake in the event of a positive WHO recommendation
  • Operational research should be designed to guide country decision-making around future procurement and deployment of new tools in the event that they are recommended by WHO. To ensure a country-led research agenda, all proposed research should leverage direct engagement with national malaria control programs on priority research objectives.
  • Market readiness to support a sustainable market for an expanding vector control toolbox
  • Proposals should include activities to prime the market for future scale-up, should the new interventions be recommended. While accurate demand forecasting is challenging for newer vector control tools with many unknowns around country decision-making, efforts to conduct this forecasting should be included as it is critical to understanding supply needs and informing the selection of market interventions and other strategies to ensure equitable access.

Settings of interest

• Evidence generation should be aimed at identifying and refining effective delivery strategies for new vector control tools in comparison or in combination with existing ones in the following target settings:
  • Countries with a high malaria burden
    • Evidence generation should include different subnational transmission settings and aim to produce transferrable findings to inform country-led prioritization of malaria prevention interventions.
  • Countries where Anopheles stephensi is an emerging threat
    • Evidence generation should focus on identifying optimal approaches to address the invasion of An. stephensi, particularly in urban and peri-urban settings, with the goal of informing evidence-based guidance for national malaria control programs on effective response strategies. Piloted strategies should build on recommendations in the recent WHO Vector Alert and RBM Consensus Statement,such as for integrated vector control in coordination with Aedes programs, One Health approaches, and community-based control activities.

Impact they are seeking

• Through this Call for Proposals, Unitaid aims to improve access to health products of public health importance in low- and middle-income countries, and in particular:
  • To introduce new vector controls with the potential to address key challenges facing the malaria response, including insecticide resistance, residual transmission, invasive vectors, and difficulty reaching vulnerable populations in specific contexts (e.g. mobile and migrant populations, climate-related crises, conflict settings);
  • To generate evidence on refined delivery strategies for the new tools in comparison or in combination with existing ones in specific target settings;
  • To generate demand and increase their adoption and use in LMICs;
  • To increase their affordability and supply security in LMICs.
• The objectives outlined will lead to:
  • reductions in malaria cases and deaths due to optimized deployment of new and existing vector control tools,
  • financial savings/efficiencies due to refined delivery strategies and combination approaches defined by country programs in line with national priorities, and
  • improved and more equitable access to vector control products for vulnerable and hard to reach populations. The goal is to enable widespread access to affordable health products through scale-up by governments and partners, to contribute to the global health response to diseases that predominantly affect people in LMICs.

Proposal Requirements

• Proponents should clearly describe their overall project design with a Theory of Change, showing how it meets the objectives of the initiative and how the proposed activities form part of a coherent whole. Proposals should explicitly state what impact will be achieved within the project life-time, as well as what, and how, lasting impact will be achieved.
• Proponents should include a clear roadmap of how introduced tools can be incorporated into national vector control programs, and scaled up, with the necessary WHO recommendation. Proponents should provide detailed scenario analyses on price, demand, and associated market factors, and articulate a coherent market-shaping strategy to support sustainable impact.
• It is expected that a consortium of partners will be required to undertake the full complement of activities described (Areas of work, as ). Applicants may choose to focus their proposals on one or both settings of interest. The consortium should clearly demonstrate strong expertise in the different technical and market intervention areas needed to undertake the project, including the implementation of large-scale multi-country projects of this nature as well as research activities that cover both pragmatic trials and economic evaluations in LMICs. This should include evidence of strong skills in design and analysis of quasi-experimental studies, a specialized approach likely to be needed in this project. Of the two areas of work described , the operational research component is the main focus, and this should be reflected in the consortium leadership structure and budget. Proponents are expected to outline an evaluation framework as part of their proposal, which will be further defined in collaboration with project partners as part of the grant agreement development process.
• Beyond the consortium, broad collaboration with relevant stakeholders will be vital to achieving the project objectives. Proponents should clarify the key stakeholders with whom they will engage, and how this will be achieved. It is important to include a country engagement model that outlines how countries will be supported in decision making and tailoring of the introduced tools, how they will be monitored and accessed for impact. Demonstrated articulation with national programs and other scale-up partners will be key.
• Applicants should be clear about the underlying assumptions made in their proposed approach and should highlight any major risks or other factors that may affect the delivery of results. Finally, proposals are expected to outline a lean, concrete and clear pathway to results and impact.

For more information, visit Unitaid.