CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST for SMALL SCALE OPERATIONAL STUDIES ON COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL (CDC) IN THE GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION
1. Introduction
The Governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Health Organization (WHO) support the GMS Regional Communicable Disease Control (CDC) Project of $38.75 million over 4 years. The Project aims to (i) strengthen national surveillance and response systems, (ii) improve CDC for vulnerable groups, and (iii) strengthen regional collaboration in CDC. About 10% of the funds are pooled regionally for regional activities. Regional activities include small scale operational studies to study regional CDC issues and strengthen linkages among health institutions by conducting joint research and programs that pertain to two or all three countries.
This is a call for Expressions of Interest (EoI) from capable institutions to conduct small scale operational research with respect to the above project.
Criteria for eligible institutions and studies are:
A. Institutions
i. EoI should be from credible and established research institutions.
ii. Submission should involve collaboration between institutions or one institution and one other agency in at least 2 CLV countries.
iii. Institutions which draw upon technical or other resources from other international research institutions are welcome.
iv. Institutions will be responsible for obtaining ethical clearance formalities according to their own institutional regulations.
B. Scope of studies:
i. Studies can be on managerial, epidemiological or behavioral issues with respect to communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, but excluding clinical interventions.
ii. Studies should be aimed at expanding the evidence base in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam.
iii. Study proposals should involve two or more countries.
iv. Studies proposals should be in line with national programme priorities (to be demonstrated).
v. Priority areas are:
a) Regional Cooperation (cross-border operations, information exchanges, quarantine, use of websites, appraisal of regional cooperation activities, etc).
b) HIV/AIDS (ARV resistance, illicit drug use and HIV, MSM, incidence studies, effective STI services, HIV diagnostics, prevention services for vulnerable populations, etc.)
c) Neglected Diseases (dengue [vector control], Japanese Encephalitis epidemiology [vaccine effectiveness], IEC/BCC, etc)
d) Integrated health care at village and health center levels (e.g. evaluating IMCI, testing integrated child care packages, examining linkages between vertical programmes and IMCI).
e) Surveillance and Response: nosocomial and iatrogenic infections, laboratory networking, assessing local government capacity for S&R, etc.
vi. Criteria for studies will include technical feasibility, availability of expertise, cost, demand, regional relevance, etc.
Expressions of Interest should indicate the status and nature of the institution(s), capability and experiences, quality of professional resources available, linkages with other institutions, and primary areas of interest of focus of studies.
Interested organization, please, request now the Expression of Interest form from
Mr. Stéphane P. Rousseau
Regional Coordinator
The Regional Coordination Unit (RCU)
of the Asian Development Bank
Greater Mekong Subregion
Communicable Diseases Control Project
Room 2104, 21st Floor,
Thanh Cong Tower,
25 Lang Ha Street, Ba Dinh District,
Hanoi – VIET NAM
Tel: (844) 514 79 33
Fax: (844) 514 80 12
Email: [email protected]
Attention: deadline for submission of Expression of Interest is 28 June 2007
