Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Grand Challenges

Design New Solutions to Data Integration for Malaria Elimination (Round 18) 

Despite the acknowledgement of the role of surveillance in malaria elimination, the full potential of available information communication technology (ICT), data systems, harmonization, analytics and visualization has not yet been effectively applied to the challenge of malaria elimination. 

The foundation is looking for proposals of innovative solutions for improving data availability and use in decision-making for malaria elimination that focus on innovation in interoperability: solutions that will reduce the time for data harmonization by automation or skill set simplification. 

The Foundation is especially interested in applicants and solutions that come from sectors beyond malaria, or even outside health. Solutions do not have to be brand new; they can be an existing method or tool used in another context repurposed and applied. 

Winning proposals should:

• Focus on simplicity of methods using routinely available data
• Explain the rationale for targeting specific countries or regions
• Describe approach for interoperability with country data systems including DHIS2
• Provide evidence that the activity is aligned to relevant national strategies on eHealth
• State the expected improvements over existing solutions, and how this will be evaluated
• Address cost of the solution and a description of how it can be brought to scale and be sustainable in the malaria-endemic developing world context
• Explain how the solution will strengthen existing health systems instead of building a parallel system
• If the solution involves building on or integrating a reporting system for additional disease areas, explain how it will strengthen malaria elimination decision-making

Deadline - 9 November 2016 

Budget - Phase I grants will be for $100,000 USD for a grant period of 18 months. Phase I projects that show promise will be eligible to apply for follow-on funding, called "Phase II".

Eligibility - There is no geographical restriction for applicants. The foundation encourages scientists worldwide to submit their ideas. 

Full details - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/design-new-solutions-data-integration-malaria-elimination-round-18

Grand Challenges - Novel Approaches to Characterizing and Tracking the Global Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are soliciting innovative ideas for models, tools, analytics, surveillance platforms, technologies, and other high impact approaches to generating evidence about the burden and impact of antimicrobial resistance in low and middle income settings, and improving its translation into practice. We are particularly seeking transformative and innovative approaches which identify and fill knowledge and practice gaps currently limiting progress in AMR surveillance and epidemiology.


A few examples of work that would be considered for funding:

• Proposals that quantify the contribution of various drivers and/or interventions on the global emergence and spread of AMR.
• Novel metrics and analytic approaches (e.g. using previously unappreciated data/sources or new analytical methods) to provide a more complete picture of the scale, impact, or dynamics of global AMR.
• Integrated approaches to understanding and describing the association between resistance patterns, anti-microbial use, access, and health and economic burden.
• Proposals focused on creating novel high-level, scalable systems architecture (e.g. data sources and streams) and activities necessary to transform global AMR epidemiology.
• Proposals that provide a detailed analysis of the economic and health systems impacts of AMR.
• Non-incremental innovative technology and surveillance platforms capable of accelerating the generation of robust evidence to document and track the burden of AMR. To be relevant to this call, the proposal should be scalable to a large number of contexts and/or provide generalizable insights.
• Methods to improve surveillance capacity and reporting of AMR beyond enhanced routine surveillance and targeted surveys (e.g. the application of genomics and machine learning)

The Details

Deadline - 11 May 2016

Full details - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/novel-approaches-characterizing-and-tracking-global-burden-antimicrobial-resistance-0

FAQs - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/grant-opportunities/faq/gce

Grand Challenges- Design New Analytics Approaches for Malaria Elimination

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are looking for proposals of innovative solutions for improving data availability and use in decision-making for malaria elimination that focus on ONE of the following areas - 

• Innovation in interoperability
• Innovation in analytics 

Winning proposals should:

• Focus on simplicity of methods using routinely available data
• Explain rationale for targeting specific countries or regions
• Describe approach for interoperability with country data systems including DHIS2
• Provide evidence that the activity is aligned to relevant national strategies on eHealth
• State the expected improvements over existing solutions, including streamlining of communications and reporting burden
• Address cost of the solution and a description of how it can be brought to scale and be sustainable in the malaria-endemic developing world context, including any computing resources
• Explain online and offline capabilities and limitations
• Explain how ease of use will be measured – i.e. back end analytics that show improvement in timeliness of data collection to analysis, and from analysis to decision-making
• Include user performance metrics (i.e. completeness and timeliness of analysis conducted with the information available)
• Explain how the solution will be strengthening existing health systems instead of building a parallel system
• If the solution involves building on or integrating a reporting system for additional disease areas, explain how it will strengthen malaria elimination decision-making
• Explain how the solution will improve key malaria elimination indicators
• If a proposal recommends new data be collected, it must provide details on what information will become routine surveillance data and what is expected to be uniquely collected for the analysis

The Details 

Deadline: 11 MAY 2016

Full Details :  http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/design-new-analytics-approaches-malaria-elimination-round-17

FAQs - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/grant-opportunities/faq/gce