Description:
P001405001: This grant represents Canada’s long-term institutional support to icddr,b, formerly known as the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. icddr,b uses these funds, along with other donors’ funding to achieve its mandate.
icddr,b’s mandate is to find low-cost innovative solutions to public health problems facing low- and middle-income countries through scientific research. icddr,b’s research and health services contribute to the well-being of women and girls in the area of disease prevention and control (including cholera vaccines administered to Rohingya refugees), sexual and reproductive health and rights, prevention and treatment of malnutrition, prevention of child marriage, and the first population-based research on gender-based violence in Bangladesh. As part of icddr,b’s ‘Core Donor Group’ (Canada, UK, Sweden), Canada’s funding is supporting the delivery of free health care, especially for women and children, and strengthening icddr,b’s operations through investment in research technologies, human resources development, and initiatives to improve icddr,b’s effectiveness, efficiency, and long-term viability.
P001405002: The proposed project would provide 5 years of institutional support to icddr,b, a leading global health research centre located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The institutional support would include capital investments in improved research technologies, develop human resources, and enable the organization to pursue its strategic research agenda to produce evidence of effective low-cost health solutions, including in SRHR. icddr,b’s mandate is to find low-cost innovative solutions to public health problems facing low- and middle-income countries through scientific research. The five main areas of icddr’b’s work are: 1) innovative research to identify low-cost solutions to public health problems in poor countries; 2) implementation and scale-up of proven public health interventions; 3) policy impact through delivering evidence for effective health strategies and policy interventions; 4) humanitarian action (including hospitals and laboratories, disease outbreak responses and training); and 5) the Matlab Demographic Surveillance site, the world’s most comprehensive and longest running longitudinal population study, which is also a testing ground for research on global vaccines, community health care delivery, reducing maternal mortality and malnutrition, the identification of emerging diseases, and the effects of environmental and socio-cultural factors on health.
The additional activities to be undertaken by icddr,b to combat COVID-19 are: training healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh; strengthening testing capacity for COVID-19 in 10 districts in Bangladesh; conducting clinical trials for prevention and treatment of COVID-19 with drug and vitamin regimes for front-line workers and at risk populations, and treatment for those unable to access standard treatment; treatment of COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia by trialing an adaptive version of locally made mechanical ventilator; assessing case management capacity of public health care services regarding COVID-19; assessment of food insecurity and undernutrition among urban and rural people during and after the pandemic in Bangladesh and development of a guideline for providing them a basic food package for maintaining daily dietary requirements to combat undernutrition.
Expected Results:
P001405001: The expected outcomes as stated by icddr,b include; 1) improved evidence-based low-cost gender-responsive solutions for public health problems in Bangladesh and other resource-poor countries globally, including in the areas of maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, nutrition and education, and focusing on women and girls; 2) improved utilization of evidence-based low-cost gender-responsive health care services and education by vulnerable people in Bangladesh, particularly women and girls; and 3) strengthened management and sustainability of icddr,b as a global research centre.
P001405002: The proposed amendment will help to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on affected people and communities, especially those experiencing marginalization and/or vulnerability in Bangladesh through activities including training of healthcare workers in protection and infection control, strengthened testing capacity and innovative approaches to COVID-19 management in resource constrained environments. The proposed amendment will contribute to the following outcomes in the COVID-19 Response Portfolio Logic Model: Ultimate Outcome: Decreased COVID-19 related mortality and morbidity of populations, especially those experiencing marginalization and/or vulnerability; and Intermediate Outcome 1100: Increased equitable coverage of public health and health care services for people infected with COVID-19.
The proposed increased funding will result in the reduced impact of crisis-affected people, through a broad spectrum of activities such as:
Training of healthcare professionals addressing COVID-19 in Bangladesh;
Strengthening testing capacity for COVID-19 in Bangladesh;
Clinical trials of medical regimes for prophylaxis for front-line workers and at risk populations, as well as for those unable to access standard treatment;
Trialing locally made mechanical interventions for COVID-19 patients;
Conducting rapid assessment of public health facilities and health care workers’ readiness regarding COVID-19 management to enhance case management capacity; and
Assessment of food insecurity and undernourishment among urban and rural people during and after the pandemic in Bangladesh, and development of a guideline for providing them a basic food package for maintaining daily dietary requirements to combat malnutrition.