Call for EOIs: Health Policy and Systems Research for Vaccine Uptake in LMICs

EoIs can focus on one of two tracks: reaching zero-dose and under-immunized children or addressing adolescent and adult vaccination. Teams based at in-country research institutions in the following countries are eligible to submit an EoI: Brazil, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

Objectives

• The objectives of this programme are to use health policy and systems research concepts and methods to develop new insights, generate empirical evidence and inform policies addressing an array of policy and systems challenges affecting vaccine uptake in select countries.

Programme Focus

• The conceptual starting point for this programme is the most recent WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization framework on behavioural and social drivers (BeSD) of vaccine uptake (World Health Organization, 2022). The programme adapts this framework by adding meso- and macro-level areas that are particularly important to the so-called practical issues identified in the BeSD framework (i.e., vaccine availability, affordability, ease of access, service quality and respect from health workers).

Thematic Areas

• Across the select track for improvement, EoIs should focus on one specific thematic area. Suggested research questions are provided under each:
  • Thematic area 1: Community and local social determinants of health
    • Promoting community and cultural assets, infrastructures and capacities: how to systematize or formalize what communities are already doing to improve vaccine uptake?
    • Practice-based evidence: how to better include lived experiences in designing vaccine programmes?
    • How are social determinants – including poverty, mistrust and distrust, structural discrimination, education and violence – affecting vaccine uptake in certain populations?
    • How are vulnerable populations, including youth, elderly and those with noncommunicable diseases, being reached for vaccination?
  • Thematic area 2: Health system contexts
    • Addressing health worker vaccine hesitancy: how are health workers supported, and how does this link to uptake in communities?
    • Strengthening community health workers as lynchpins of vaccination: what strategies can strengthen the role of community health workers in increasing vaccination coverage?
    • How are health systems learning to adapt to emergency and routine immunization?
    • How do health systems engage with sectors beyond health to support vaccine uptake?
    • Evaluation measures: What new/better performance indicators are needed to improve immunization systems?
    • How to improve the quality and use of existing immunization data?
  • Thematic area 3: National political governance
    • What are effective strategies to address political barriers, regulatory weaknesses or policy gaps?
    • Which models of national institutional investment aimed at building public trust in the health systems work best?
    • Where has advocacy to augment the immunization agenda been effective?
    • How do the public/private and state/community interfaces impact vaccine uptake?
  • Thematic area 4: Global forces
    • Power sources that shape global immunization agenda: how are discourses structured and affecting national vaccine uptake?
  • Cross-cutting topics
    • Additionally, cross-cutting topics include:
    • equity
    • gender
    • digital transformation
    • networked knowledge
    • integrated evidence
    • systemic risk.

Funding Information

• Up to six research teams will be funded up to a maximum of US$ 320 000 each. No further funding will be provided by the Alliance within or beyond the project period. The activities are expected to run for twenty-four months, from the end of 2024 to the end of 2026.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for this award, the EoI will demonstrate the following:
  • Teams are based at domestic research institutions, as defined in the research focus section of this call, based in an eligible country: Brazil, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Viet Nam;
  • Teams should be gender-balanced with women comprising at least 50% of the research team; and
  • A clear focus on one of the tracks, with reference to a relevant thematic area and at least one cross-cutting issue.

For more information, visit Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.