Deadline: 14-Aug-20
This call, issued by the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), is in support of a long-term effort to strengthen research on urban health interventions for the control of infectious diseases of poverty.
Objectives
- The overall objective of this work is to synthesize and consolidate evidence from a series of literature reviews /state-of-the-art scoping reviews that will inform TDR’s research agenda on urban health, infectious disease and gender research, including in COVID-19 and postCOVID-19 scenarios. The work is expected to be completed by October 2021.
Thematic Areas
Themes/topics to be covered in the reviews include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Developing and learning good practices on community-oriented interventions for the prevention and control of infectious diseases of poverty in resource constraint urban contexts during COVID-19 scenarios.
- Evidence on innovative urban health interventions that address social and environmental determinants of health.
- How social and gender dynamics influence delivery and implementation of urban health interventions to prevent and control infectious diseases.
- Evidence on gender dynamics and gender intersecting inequalities in access to health care to treat infectious diseases in urban settings.
- How gender (including gender identities on the one hand, and gender norms, roles and relations on the other) intersects with other axes of inequality (e.g. age, social class, ethnicity, geographic location, refugee status, etc.) to determine unique circumstances of disadvantage and/or privilege in access to health care and treatment of infectious diseases in urban and peri-urban settings before, during and after COVID-19.
- Evidence on gender related aspects in infectious disease epidemiology, prevention and control, including gender-based violence, under a COVID-19 scenario where infectious diseases prevail and are often exacerbated by compromised access to health care.
- Analyses/evidence of the extent to which COVID-19 affects women, men and people with non-binary gender identities, in terms of benefiting from health interventions and access to care and treatment of infectious diseases in urban contexts.
- Transmission dynamics, co-infection of infectious diseases and how they are influenced by social and gender-related dynamics in urban settings, including during COVID-19 scenarios.
- Strategies to increase protection of most at-risk populations in urban settings, including strengthening disease surveillance measures and early warning tools.
- Community participation and engagement in risk management of infectious diseases, including through housing and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions.
Funding Information
- Awards will be considered for a total funding envelope of up to US$ 140 000, supporting a maximum of four institutions or one research consortium with various institutions from a diverse range of LMICs.
Duration
- The duration of the award will be 12 months with an estimated start date in September 2020.
Eligible Countries
- Applications are welcome from research institutions based in low- and middle-income countries in all WHO Regions. Applications must demonstrate an understanding of intersectionality applied to public health and specifically to infectious diseases of poverty in urban settings. Research groups, networks or consortia from more than two countries working in low- and middle-income countries within WHO Regions are eligible to apply.
- Applications should be led by a qualified researcher based in a low- or middle-income country. Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity are key principles embedded in core areas of TDR’s work. Women researchers, researchers whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth and researchers with gender identities of non-binary spectrum are strongly encouraged to apply. Grants will be awarded to the beneficiary institution where the lead researcher/s is/are based.
Selection Criteria
- Scientific Merit
- Expertise in the related fields (urban health, intersectionality and gender research, urban arboviral and/or parasitic diseases research, infectious disease prevention and control).
- Experience in conducting systematic reviews.
- Clear and well-defined objectives for the proposed reviews.
- Track record in research analyses and research gap analysis.
- Relevance
- Demonstrated capability of institutions within the collaborative proposal to conduct systematic reviews.
- Potential of the reviews to influence urban health policies or practice.
- Appropriate plan for dissemination of results.
- LMIC institutions in the consortium.
- Feasibility
- Feasible implementation timeline (Gantt chart).
- Quality/suitability of the institution(s)/team (composition, expertise) for the proposed tasks.
- Ability of the principal investigator to manage the project based on track record.
- Risk assessment and management approach to the project.
- Budget
- Sound and appropriate budget.
- Budget well justified.
Eligibility Criteria
- Academic, research and public sector institutions where two or more institutions are forming a consortium and one institution is the lead institution for the contract, or individual research institutions (up to a maximum of four).
- Institutions have expertise in urban health, infectious disease transmission in urban settings, gender and intersectionality research.
- The consortium has the capacity to conduct such reviews and the facilities (virtual) for any global consultation they may include within their proposed methodologies.
For more information, visit https://www.who.int/tdr/grants/calls/social-determinants-urban-health/en/