Tuesday, March 4, 2008

[EQ] Call for Proposals: Innovative Global Health Research

Proposals Sought for Innovative Global Health Research

First  round of Grand Challenges Explorations to support bold, unconventional ideas to fight infectious diseases

 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, March 2008

 

Website: http://www.gcgh.org/explorations

 

Grant from March 31 through May 30, 2008; applicants must register intent to submit a proposal by May 15, 2008.

 

“….SEATTLE -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that beginning March 31, 2008, it will accept grant proposals for the first funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, a new $100 million initiative to help scientists across the globe pursue ideas that have never before been tested for solving major health problems.

 

Initial grants through the Explorations initiative will be $100,000 each, and projects showing success will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of $1 million or more. The initiative will use an agile, accelerated grant-making process—applications will be two pages, and preliminary data are not required.

 

The foundation will select and award grants within approximately three months from the proposal submission deadline of May 30, 2008.

 

Topics for First Funding Round

The first funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations will consider proposals in four topic areas:

·         Creating new ways to protect against infectious diseases: Untried or unproven approaches to protect against infectious diseases, including harnessing natural or synthetic immune responses, or eliminating the need for an effective immune response.

·         Creating drugs or delivery systems that limit the emergence of resistance: Innovative ideas for discovering or delivering drugs that are less likely to lose effectiveness because of resistance developing in the disease-causing agent.

·         Creating new ways to prevent or cure HIV infection: Innovative ideas for HIV prevention or treatment methods that fall outside current research on vaccines, antiretroviral drugs, and other biomedical and behavior-change strategies.

·         Exploring the basis for latency in TB: Unconventional approaches to understanding latent TB infection, with the goal of discovering new ways to identify and eliminate latent infection, and break the cycle of TB transmission.



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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
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[EQ] Transcending the Known in Public Health Practice: The Inequality Paradox

The Population Approach and Vulnerable Populations


Katherine L. Frohlich, and Louise Potvin,  at Lea Roback Centre for Research on Health Inequalities, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine,
University of Montreal, and le Groupe de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Santé, Montreal, Quebec.

American Journal of Public Health - March 1 2008, Volume 98, Issue 3

Website: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/98/2/216

“…….Using the concept of vulnerable populations, we examine how disparities in health may be exacerbated by population-approach interventions.

We show, from an etiologic perspective, how life-course epidemiology, the concentration of risk factors, and the concept of fundamental causes of diseases may explain the differential capacity, throughout the risk-exposure distribution, to transform resources provided through population-approach interventions into health. From an intervention perspective, we argue that population-approach interventions may be compromised by inconsistencies between the social and cultural assumptions of public health practitioners and targeted groups.  We propose some intervention principles to mitigate the health disparities associated with population-approach interventions…”.


“…….In WESTERN SOCIETIES, significant efforts during the last half century to improve health systems have resulted in spectacular gains for a wide range of health indicators
.1 A growing number of studies, however, show that these gains have not benefited everyone equally; inequalities in health seem to have increased, at least for some health outcomes.24 This unexpected consequence is particularly troublesome in the case of population-level interventions, which seek to improve the health of the entire population.

We distinguish between 3 intervention approaches: the populations-at-risk approach, based on:

-          - Lalonde’s notion of the health field5;
Rose’s population approach
,6 which addresses the conditions shaping the distribution of individual risk in a population; and
- a vulnerable population approach that addresses the conditions that put social groups "at risk of risks"—that is, risks that generate exposure to other risks.

By shifting the focus to whole populations, population-level interventions, which are based on Geoffrey Rose’s population approach, represented an advancement over a population-at-risk approach.

We propose, however, that interventions based on population approaches are not free from criticism and may have led to unintended exacerbations of health disparities. Using the concept of vulnerable populations, we attempt to explain how this can be so. We begin by reviewing the notion of "populations at risk" and its relationship to Rose’s population approach and then proceed with a critique of Rose’s approach based on the notion of vulnerable populations. We conclude by suggesting that interventions addressing the needs of vulnerable populations should be used as a complement to population approaches…..”

 

TABLE 2— Three Different Public Health Approaches to Improving Health

Intervention Approach

Objective

Target for Intervention

Critiquesa


 

Populations at risk (Lalonde5)

Prevent disease in those individuals at higher risk

Reduce the specific risk exposure for individuals at higher risk through behavioral (or biochemical) changes

Blames the victim; does not prevent other individuals from becoming at risk

Population approach (Rose6)

Increase overall population health

Shift distribution of population risk exposure toward a lower mean through changes in environmental conditions that lead to increased risk

May increase health inequalities

Vulnerable populations (this essay)

Decrease health inequalities between socially defined groups

Shift to a lower level the risk exposure distribution of socially defined groups through changes in social and environmental conditions that make groups at higher risk of risks

May lead to positive discrimination; may lead to stigmatization; may be less efficient in terms of population health

aThe critiques directed at the populations-at-risk approach are empirically documented. The critique listed for the population approach is currently being researched, and those associated with vulnerable populations are speculative.

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is".Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

[EQ] The Public Health Approach to Eliminating Disparities in Health

The Public Health Approach to Eliminating Disparities in Health

 

David Satcher is the director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States.

Eve J. Higginbotham is Dean and Senior Vice President for academic affairs at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta.

American Journal of Public Health - March 1 2008, Volume 98, Issue 3

 

Abstract: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/3/400

 

“…….Reducing and eliminating disparities in health is a matter of life and death. Each year in the United States, thousands of individuals die unnecessarily from easily preventable diseases and conditions. It is critical that we approach this problem from a broad public health perspective, attacking all of the determinants of health: access to care, behavior, social and physical environments, and overriding policies of universal access to care, physical education in schools, and restricted exposure to toxic substances.

 

We describe the historical background for recognizing and addressing disparities in health, various factors that contribute to disparities, how the public health approach addresses such challenges, and two successful programs that apply the public health approach to reducing disparities in health. Public health leaders must advocate for public health solutions to eliminate disparities in health….”

 

 

 *      *      *     * 

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is".Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.