Vaccine Delivery Technologies

Description:
Develop a prospective cost-effectiveness analysis model that assesses in a developing country setting the potential cost-effectiveness of novel vaccine delivery technologies encompassing one or more innovative characteristics such as thermostability, single dose application, and needle-free use, that may be employed with vaccines designed to prevent common infectious diseases in the developing world.

Several projects funded by the Grand Challenges in Global Health (GCGH) Initiative are developing novel vaccine delivery technologies with desirable features such as thermostability, single dose application, and needle-free use. Few studies have examined the potential cost differentials and overall vaccination effectiveness between current and cutting-edge vaccine delivery technologies in low- and middle-income cou ntry settings*. We expect contract awardees to develop a prospective cost-effectiveness analysis model to evaluate novel vaccine delivery technologies, such as those being developed by GCGH projects or others, with one or more desirable features (thermostability, single dose application, or needle-free use), and designed to prevent one or more of the following common infectious diseases: Hepatitis B, tetanus, tuberculosis, cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, or pneumococcal infections. We also expect contract awardees to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis in a specific and pertinent developing country using realistic assumptions and data. Awardees shall undertake this work in an innovative way that does not repeat previous studies unnecessarily. The resulting cost-effectiveness analysis should provide decision-makers in developing countries with a comparison between the potential economic value of novel vaccine delivery technologies and that of existing delivery technologies. The study design and model created can be adapted to carry out similar evaluations in places throughout the developing world in which the novel vaccine delivery technologies might be used.

(*See Levin A, Levin C, Kristensen D & Matthias D (2007). An economic evaluation of thermostable vaccines in Cambodia, Ghana and Bangladesh. Vaccine 25: 6945-57; World Health Organization Guide for standardization of economic evaluations of immunization programmes (forthcoming September 2008).)

The goal of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to select and commission research from individuals*, institutions, organizations and companies in the developing world. The selected project shall receive a contract for 18 months.

*Individuals need to be affiliated with a not-for-profit or for-profit organization.

WORKING GROUPS ELIGIBILITY 1. Only individuals, institutions, organizations and companies from developin g countries are eligible to submit proposals. For the purposes of this competition, the term developing countries includes all low income, lower middle income, and upper middle income countries classified as such by the World Bank according to their 2007 gross national income (GNI) per capita. Please be sure to refer to the World Bank website to confirm eligibility.

WORKING GROUPS 2. Primary applicants may be part of a North-South collaboration with individuals, institutions, organizations or companies from industrialized countries. However, the primary applicants must be from a developing country.

Deadline to submit proposals: January 16, 2009.

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Technology #180