[e-drug] Grand Challenges in Global Health

[Leela McCullough <leela@healthnet.org>]

E-drug: Grand Challenges in Global Health
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Dear E-druggers,

Here is a chance for the African E-drug members to have a voice in
identifying these Grand Challenges. For those who may not have
Web access to visit the site, I have included the Definition and Scope
sections of the Grand Challenge (in text form) below this message,
but subscribers can get more information via fax too. 

Many thanks and best regards,

Leela

Dr. Leela McCullough
Director of Information Services
SATELLIFE
30 California Street, Watertown, MA 02472, USA
Tel: +617-926-9400 Fax: +617-926-1212
Email: leela@usa.healthnet.org
Web: http://www.healthnet.org


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We would very much like to receive recommendations for Grand
Challenges in Global Health from the African health research
community, and are looking for ways to get the word out to them. 

Please distribute this e-mail and its information widely and note that
we would like to get submissions before June 15. 

Thank you for your interest in this important initiative.

The following letter was initially distributed May 2. 

Date: May 2, 2003
From: "Harold Varmus@Grandchallengesgh.org"
Subject: A Call for Ideas for Grand Challenges in Global Health

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We are seeking ideas. Specifically, we seek the help of the
international health research community in identifying the greatest
scientific and technological challenges in global health - the principal
current challenges standing in the way of major progress. The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $200 million to establish
the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative as a major new effort
in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH). Our aim is to
identify 10 to 15 critical scientific and/or technical challenges, which, if
solved, could lead to important advances against diseases and
improve health in the developing world. 

This Call for Ideas is a call for your recommendations, and is the first
step in a novel two-phase approach. Between now and June 15, we
are asking health researchers around the world to submit their ideas
on what they consider to be the scientific Grand Challenges in Global
Health at this time. The Scientific Board that I chair will then review
the submissions and select the 10 to 15 most compelling challenges
as official Grand Challenges for the initiative. These Grand
Challenges will be announced this fall, and solicitations for research
grant proposals to address them will follow.

Our Web site, www.grandchallengesgh.org, provides a working
definition of what we mean by "grand challenges," details on the Call
for Ideas, instructions for submitting recommendations, an electronic
submission form and a list of the Scientific Board members.
Researchers who do not have access to the Web may send an e-mail
message to info@grandchallengesgh.org, specifying whether they
can receive a PDF file or want the information faxed to a specific
number.

Submission of ideas through the Web site is preferred, but those
unable to use this form of submission may e-mail their responses to
callforideas@grandchallengesgh.org or fax them to 1-301-480-2752.
Please read the Call for Ideas material carefully and follow the
recommended format for submission. 

We welcome your interest in this significant new initiative, and
encourage you to distribute this e-mail to other research colleagues
around the world who may have ideas to contribute. 

Responses are due by June 15, 2003.

Sincerely, 

Harold E. Varmus, M.D.
Chairman
Scientific Board
Grand Challenges in Global Health
 
Helen Burnett
Grand Challenges in Global Health 
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health 
1 Cloister Court
Suite 152
Bethesda, MD 20814
310-402-4970
burnetth@mail.nih.gov 


DEFINITION

What is a Grand Challenge? 

A Grand Challenge is a call for a specific scientific or technological
innovation that would remove a critical barrier to solving an important
health problem in the developing world with a high likelihood of global
impact and feasibility. 

A Grand Challenge is neither the statement of the global health
problem itself (e.g., malaria or AIDS) nor the request for a specific
health intervention (e.g., a drug or vaccine), but the call for a discrete
scientific or technological innovation which will break through the
roadblock that stands between where we are now and where we
would like to be in science, medicine, and public health. 
 
For example, a Grand Challenge could be the discovery or creation
of: 

* A novel way to neutralize HIV that may be the critical limiting step
  in developing a preventive vaccine 
* An innovative technology that provided a fundamentally distinct
  platform to achieve point-of-care, accurate and affordable
     diagnostics 
* A viable method to alter mosquito behavior, control mosquito
  populations or make mosquitos inhospitable to disease organisms 
* A definitive way to stabilize antigens to heat to avoid the "cold
  chain" for vaccines 

SCOPE

What is the scope of the Grand Challenges in Global Health
initiative?

The Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative will address the
diseases and health conditions that cause the greatest morbidity and
mortality in the developing world, thus accounting for the enormous
health disparities between the developing and the developed world,
and that receive disproportionately less attention from the scientific
and technical community than their consequences demand. 

The scope of the ultimate goals of the Grand Challenges in Global
Health initiative is broad, encompassing prevention, detection,
diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and surveillance and control of
diseases. The wide range of possible disciplines to be employed
includes, but is not limited to, immunology and microbiology, genetics,
molecular and cellular biology, entomology, agricultural sciences,
clinical sciences, epidemiology, population and behavioral sciences,
ecology and evolutionary biology. Any scientific approach that has the
potential to address a Grand Challenge in a novel and potentially
powerful way might be supported by the initiative. 

© 2003, Grand Challenges in Global Health, All Rights Reserved.
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