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 - Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are seeking innovative ideas to assess the burden of disease, to develop better vaccines, and to develop new diagnostics, specifically to:

• Develop methods for simple preparation and preservation of stool samples for room-temperature transport and remote-analysis;
• Better understand cause of death from tissue samples;
• Develop point-of-care nucleic acid diagnostics to below $2 per test;
• Enable self-testing for cervical cancer;
• Develop malaria diagnostics to accelerate toward eradication.

Successful proposals will:

• Clearly describe how the idea, if successful, would help solve one of the challenges described in the call;
• Be directly relevant to the developing world (e.g. low-cost, useful across multiple geographical and cultural settings, self-sustaining);
• Have a clear and testable hypothesis and include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated;
• Yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding

The Details

Deadline - 11 May 2016

Full details - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/explore-new-solutions-global-health-priority-areas-round-17

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

News Release - 2016 Funding Opportunities from US Department of Defense

The Department of Defense released a pre-announcement of the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program grants for 2016. The official announcement will be at the end of March on grants.gov. The pre-announcement was made to allow researchers more time for planning their application. 

Program Overview

The PRMRP challenges the scientific and clinical communities to address one topic area with - 

• original ideas that foster new directions in basic science and translational research; 
• novel product development leading to improved therapeutic or diagnostic tools;
• synergistic, multidisciplinary research programs; 
• or clinical trials that address an immediate clinical need. 

These topics include- 

• Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Influenza
• Malaria
• Tuberculosis
• Vaccine Development for Infectious Disease

More Information 

Full details of the pre-announcement can be seen in these images ( the website is not accessible from Thailand)  - 

Grand Challenges Explorations Round 9

Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to encourage innovative and unconventional global health and development solutions, is now accepting grant proposals for its latest application round.  Applicants can be at any experience level; in any discipline; and from any organization, including colleges and universities, government
laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for profit companies.


Proposals are being accepted online until May 15, 2012 on the following topics:

 * New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds
 * Aid is Working. Tell the World
 * Design New Approaches to Optimize Immunization Systems
 * Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas
 * Protect Crop Plants from Biotic Stresses From Field to Market


(please see this link for more information about each topic: http://www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/TopicsOverview.aspx)

Initial grants will be US $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to US $1 million.

WRAIR Medical Tropical Research Laboratory (MTRLP) Malaria Prevention Research Award (MPRA)

AFRIMS is currently seeking a partner in Cambodia to conduct high quality research to develop new drugs and vaccines to prevent and treat malaria. AFRIMS currently has product candidates in both advanced preclinical and clinical development which may be suitable for licensure. Because drug resistance is the most important threat to effective malaria prevention and treatment, the product development program is combined with antimalarial drug resistance surveillance. Resistance to nearly all currently used antimalarials has been reported in Cambodia, making the development of new effective antimalarials a high public health priority.


Research will be focused on development of new products to include drugs and vaccines, improved use of existing antimalarial drugs, and active epidemiologic surveillance for drug resistance. The research will take place at AFRIMS established clinical research sites and/or facilities within Cambodia, or at new sites approved by the Cambodian Ministry of Health and/or other appropriate authorities.


For more information, please see:
http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=MNyTPKdQkCXtCCkkpJVGLF0pTy5K7hhsGCCnL4Zj8YpVw6Gbg1fX!-1135953825?oppId=135374&mode=VIEW

The deadline is 31 January 2012, so please act fast!  The grant is worth $2,200,000.