CIHR Pre-Announcement of a Request for Applications on Implementation Research on Hypertension in Low and Middle Income Countries

(2011-04-11) The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) joined by Canadian funding partners are pleased to announce their intention to release a Funding Opportunity on Implementation Research on Hypertension in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Investigators are invited to submit proposals to improve effective approaches to the prevention and control of hypertension. CIHR will be accepting applications for research in both LMICs and with First Nations, Metis and Inuit populations and communities.

This funding opportunity on Implementation Research on Hypertension in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), is the first coordinated research program of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD). The GACD is the first collaboration of national research funding agencies, which aims to coordinate research activities that will address, on a global scale, the prevention and treatment of chronic non-communicable diseases with a particular focus on the needs of low and middle income countries (LMICs), and on those of low income populations of more developed countries. The Members of the GACD include the Medical Research Councils (MRC) of the United Kingdom and South Africa; the Australian Health and Medical Research Council; CIHR; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States; and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS).

Lowering hypertension is the focus of this first research program. Hypertension is a major contributor to the growing global pandemic of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Poor control rates for hypertension and a lack of strategies to maintain normal blood pressure, particularly in LMICs, reflect the challenges of effective and affordable implementation in health care and other systems.

This funding opportunity emphasizes implementation science and focuses on high blood pressure prevention and control applicable to populations in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) and or to Aboriginal communities within Canada and Australia. It builds on previous research that has examined the efficacy and effectiveness of approaches to prevent and control high blood pressure. This program seeks to improve the implementation of existing approaches to prevention and control rather than to develop new treatments.

Confirmed Canadian partners contributing to this funding opportunity include: Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian Stroke Network (CSN).

RFA on Hypertension Control

Overview:

The objectives of this program will be:

  • To develop a better understanding of key barriers at local, national and international levels that affect hypertension control and to consider how these implementation challenges can be overcome.
  • To understand how innovations for hypertension control can be introduced and scaled-up across a range of settings.
  • To identify what elements of systems most need to be strengthened to prevent hypertension and its consequences (e.g. stroke).
  • To improve hypertension control rates while reducing disparities in hypertension control across population sub-groups.

This Funding Opportunity is designed to optimize cumulative learning across individual projects, and ensure that results are interpretable and generalizable. These include standard metrics and/or protocols for examining outcomes and for assessing features of the health care system and the broader context. Funded teams will come together as a consortium to develop approaches to standardize data collection and are expected to use these standardized approaches in their respective projects. This will allow the sharing of outcome data across projects. A standards and technical advisory group will be established for this RFA.

For your application to be eligible:

  1. The Nominated Principal Applicant must be:
    An independent researcher.
  2. In order to be considered eligible, Canadian teams must apply with researchers in LMIC countries as defined by the World Bank.  All countries on this list with the exception of India and China are considered eligible for this competition.  Research with Canada’s Aboriginal populations is also eligible.  Researchers with a focus on Canadian Aboriginal populations may also include co-principal investigators or co-investigators from Australia and/or LMICs for projects focused on indigenous populations.
  3. Demonstrated engagement of decision-makers and/or policy makers in the project.
  4. The Nominated Principal Applicant must be registered at a Canadian eligible institution.
  5. Applicants may not apply to two different agencies with the same project. Doing so, is grounds for rejection of the application.

Timeline:

CIHR anticipates launching this competition in early May 2011 with applications being due early September 2011.

Contacts:

Please direct press enquiries to allison.jackson@cihr-irsc.gc.ca