REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS FOR PROJECTS RELATED TO QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH IN IMMUNIZATON
Models to estimate national vaccine-preventable disease burden for all 193 WHO Member States
In response to challenges in global immunization, WHO and UNICEF developed the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy, 2006-2015 [pdf 3.5Mb]. In brief, GIVS aims to immunize more people, from infants to seniors, with a greater range of vaccines. Its chief goal is to, by 2015 or earlier, reduce illness and death due to vaccine-preventable diseases by at least two thirds compared to 2000 levels.
GIVS has four main aims:
- to immunize more people against more diseases;
- to introduce a range of newly available vaccines and technologies;
- to provide a number of critical health interventions and surveillance with immunization; and
- to manage vaccination programmes and activities within the context of global interdependence.
Both to provide member states with information on which to make evidence-based decisions on strategies to achieve the GIVS goals, as well as to enable monitoring of the achievement of the two-thirds morbidity and mortality reduction goal, credible models of disease burden are needed.
Approaches to estimating disease burden should have the following properties
1. Be based on a systematically collected Database of evidence with which to parameterize the models: high quality and up-to-date database with the country-specific information with metadata, that can be made accessible to reviewers of estimates as well as the general public.
2. Estimation methods: transparent methods, which are suitable for publication and which will be peer-reviewed through an IVR advisory committee; the methods should be clearly documented as to assumptions and limitations, and include estimates of uncertainty.
3.The methods must be capable of being updateable annually to be able to estimate national, regional, and global disease burden, disease burden averted, and account for changes in immunization coverage (and policy, if appropriate). The ability to estimate disease burden in children (<5) and adults separately is important.
We are currently seeking proposals to develop models (and gather the necessary information to parameterize such models) to estimate the burden of the following diseases, listed by priority area
Priority 1: Rubella1, Pertussis , Yellow Fever, Diphtheria, Cholera, Seasonal Influenza
Priority 2: Mumps, Varicella, Typhoid
Priority 3: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E, Dengue
It is expected that in addition to developing the well-documented database of evidence and estimation methods, that the grantees would present the work to the IVR advisory committee and make modifications as required. The grantee would be expected to work in collaboration with WHO staff on the project, with regular progress updates and consultations on direction.
1WHO-IVB has a previous version of an extensive literature search on parameter data for rubella that could, once updated, be used to populate a model such as the one Cutts FT, Vynnycky E. Modelling the incidence of congenital rubella syndrome in developing countries. Int J Epidemiol. 1999 Dec;28(6):1176-84.