Applications Invited for WHO Call for proposals: The Ethics of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response

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Call for proposals: The Ethics of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response

About the Organization:

World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. WHO are responsible for the World Health Report, the worldwide World Health Survey, and World Health Day.

Overview and Objectives

The WHO Health Ethics and Governance Unit[1] invites proposals which address the ethics of COVID-19 public health preparedness and response. (Please note that we will also accept proposals that look beyond COVID-19 to focus on preparedness and response and research in public health emergencies more generally.) This call for proposals has been issued to support both the work of the Unit and PHEPREN (the Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Ethics Network)[2], which is currently focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research proposals may address any significant ethical aspects of public health preparedness and response to COVID-19. Themes of interest to WHO and PHEPREN include:

• Vulnerabilities & inequalities – stigma & discrimination, social determinants of health, structural inequalities, vulnerable populations, global health justice
• Resource allocation – approaches to allocating scarce health-related resources within pandemic contexts (including vaccines & therapeutics, personal protective equipment, and clinical care for a range of health needs)
• Political responsibilities – preparedness & public health responses, solidarity & collective interests, individual interests & rights, policy-making, corruption
• Containment approaches – including population-wide & targeted requirements for physical distancing, isolation & quarantine, proposals for immunity certifications
• Surveillance & monitoring – including the use of digital technologies  i.e. apps and algorithms to monitor and model population movements and COVID transmission patterns
• Engagement & communication – participatory approaches & access to reliable information, information needs, miscommunication & misinformation, competing discourses, social media & infodemics
• Health systems – clinical ethics, public health ethics, MEURI & emergency use of unproven clinical interventions outside research, health-worker interests & responsibilities
• Data & sample sharing – sharing pathogen samples, genomic, pathogen, research, clinical, epidemiological & surveillance data, and research methods & outputs
• Research prioritisation & oversight – accelerated research pathways, approaches to ethical and regulatory review, including strengthening local ethics review, community & participant interests, dissemination & publication

Proposal development

The proposal and all correspondence and documents relating thereto shall be prepared and submitted in the English language. Information which the bidder considers confidential, if any, should be clearly marked as such.

In response to the aims of the proposal, a range of activities may be planned including:

• Systematic reviews of relevant literature
• Empirical research incorporating novel data collection and analysis
• Participatory approaches to the development of policy and guidance
• The development of capacity building and training resources
• Theoretical and conceptual analyses

Proposals should clearly identify intended outputs and outline how these can support communities, policy makers, researchers, and responders responding to ethical issues arising out of global health emergencies.

Bidders are encouraged to propose activities which:

• advance policy development, governance and oversight, and / or
• respond to vulnerabilities and inequalities engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic and public health emergencies more generally.

Eligibility and selection criteria

Proposals will be chosen based on the following criteria:

• Lead researcher / project team expertise and experience [25%]
• Design and proposed outputs of the study proposal [50%]
• Cost-effectiveness and value for money [25%].

Please note that we would particularly welcome collaborative proposals:

• Between High income and Low and middle- income (LMICs) countries and
• Between LMICs

Funding and period

• The maximum amount of funding available will be up to US$ 25,000. The activities will be implemented across four to five months and the end date should not exceed 31 March 2021.

Email for submissions of all queries: littlerk@who.int

Deadline: 26 October 2020, 17:00 CEST

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