CFAs: Gender, Antimicrobial Resistance and Climate Change threat to Human Health

Understanding the intersection of different dimensions of gender with other social stratifiers, including age, sex, disability, class, sexual orientation or ethnicity, among others, is critical in the epidemiology, prevention and control of infectious diseases across different contexts. There is increasing yet insufficient evidence as to how and why gender intersects with other key social stratifiers to shape infectious disease conditions, influence vulnerability to illness and affect experiences in access to health care. There is also an urgent need to explore how new evidence in emerging priority areas can be efficiently translated into policy and practice, and how gender dynamics influence implementation research processes.

Objectives and Expected Outputs 

• The overall objective of this work is to conduct implementation research studies to generate evidence that helps to identify enablers and bottlenecks that impact the delivery of health interventions in the face of two major global health threats; climate variability and change and resistance to treatment and control agents, including but beyond antibiotic resistance, such as insecticidal resistance. This includes:
  • generating evidence on how gender intersects with other factors of inequity to influence AMR outcomes shaped by specific contextual and structural factors, influencing access to health systems, health care and treatment;
  • evidence on how climate variability and/or change impact delivery and access to health interventions to tackle infectious diseases of poverty; and
  • conducting intersectional gender analysis in infectious disease research for implementation to generate new evidence and knowledge on the intersections of gender and other social variables that influence the way implementation strategies work to address AMR, and/or health adaptation strategies to climate variability and change.
• All topics proposed should cover one or multiple aspects related to implementation research processes, taking into account an intersectional gender approach and health systems lens in the context of AMR and/or environmental challenges.
• Specifically, projects could focus on one or more of the topics listed below. This list is not exhaustive; research teams may suggest slightly different titles or foci although preference will be given to closely related topics.

Focus Areas

• All proposals should include a research capacity strengthening component, proposing activities within the projects that focus on one or more of the following:
  • Knowledge about AMR, climate change, gender and their interactions and impact on health and healthcare.
  • How to foster collaborative multisectoral partnerships between stakeholders working on climate, AMR and gender and intersectionality.
  • Knowledge to conduct intersectional gender research within the proposed project.
  • How to incorporate an intersectional gender lens to strengthen surveillance systems for disease control and/or AMR.

Funding Information

• Proposals will be considered for a total funding envelope of up to US$ 100,000, supporting a maximum of two applications.
• The duration of the award will be 18 months with an estimated start date of September 2024.

Eligibility Criteria 

• This research programme has a selective nature. It seeks to identify unique established research groups or institutions with expertise and a track record in implementation research, health systems, gender, intersectionality and infectious disease research that would benefit from a new influx of funding to advance their research work.
• TDR is committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity in science. Researchers are encouraged to apply irrespective of gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious, cultural or social backgrounds, or (dis)ability status.
• When data is included, it should be disaggregated at least by sex and age (and other social stratifiers as appropriate, e.g. education level, income, self-reported gender identity, social status or (dis)ability) wherever possible.
• Plans for ensuring sex and age disaggregated data and gender analysed data should be clearly stated in the research application and considered in early stages of the project design process.
• Grants will be awarded to the beneficiary research institution where the lead researcher/s is/are based.
• This call is limited to applicants from LMICs who have been engaged in and who have expertise in gender and intersectionality research applied to public health, implementation research and/or infectious disease prevention and control. Additional expertise and experience working on research related aspects of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and/or climate change would be an asset.

For more information, visit TDR.