COMPETITION
Open Society Institute
U.S. Agency for International Development
International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections
World Health Organization
DEVELOPING EVIDENCE-BASED CLINICAL STANDARDS FOR STI MANAGEMENT IN EASTERN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Introduction
The Open Society Institute (OSI), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) would like to announce their collaboration in an effort to reduce the impact and incidence of STIs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
These organizations are seeking grant applications from professional associations interested in working with IUSTI and WHO to adapt international evidence-based clinical standards for STI management to their own countries and guide their incorporation into medical education and practice.
Evidence-based medicine is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research." The adoption of national STI management guidelines based on international evidence-based standards will promote best practice in STI diagnosis and patient care and reduce the incidence of infection and drug resistance. Such guidelines can serve as a tool for undergraduate and postgraduate education and a resource for policymakers developing STI management strategies.
Project Description
Six professional associations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia will be selected to participate in this project based on their capacity to play a lead role in the adaptation of new clinical standards and on the merit of their proposals for adoption and institutionalization of those standards. IUSTI and WHO will provide technical assistance in the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based standards. The professional associations selected as project partners will ensure that guidelines are locally appropriate and incorporated into medical education and delivery systems according to a sustainable and long-term plan.
Following the selection of project partners through this competition, IUSTI will conduct an assessment visit to each country in order to discuss existing STI management, and to ensure that technical assistance is tailored to each country's needs. Two to three months later, participating professional associations will engage in a WHO/IUSTI workshop to discuss the need for and potential challenges to the adaptation of evidence-based STI management standards in their countries. Then, over the next year, WHO and IUSTI will provide technical assistance to professional associations to develop locally-appropriate, evidence-based clinical guidelines for STI diagnosis and treatment. These guidelines will be based on existing European STI guidelines published by IUSTI in 2001.
Once all six teams have finalized their guidelines, a second workshop will be organized by IUSTI and WHO for project partners and national-level policymakers to discuss results and develop plans for adoption and dissemination of the guidelines. The guidelines are expected to be formally adopted by WHO Euro at the conclusion of this process in 2004.
Who Should Apply
Preference will be given to national professional organizations in the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
How to Apply
Interested organizations should submit a full application to their local national Soros Foundation no later than March 21, 2003. Applicants should include answers to the questions below, as well as a detailed budget that covers anticipated expenses of project activities.
Applications will be reviewed and final decisions made by OSI, USAID, IUSTI and WHO. Results of the competition will be conveyed to applicants in April 2003.
Please direct any questions to Lydia Pace at lpace@sorosny.org.
About the Sponsors
IUSTI-Europe
The International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI) -Europe is a branch of the global IUSTI, which was founded in 1923 and also has North American, Latin American, African and Asia-Pacific branches. IUSTI-Europe is the only pan-European specialist professional society in existence. Its Scientific Board is composed of senior and experienced specialists in the field of STI from each European country. This comprises a unique group in terms of individuals who actually run and understand services for STIs, covering clinical, service/operational, microbiological and public health aspects. IUSTI-Europe has recently collaborated with WHO-Europe in the production of the first-ever, evidence-based, pan-European specialist guidelines for the management of STI. IUSTI-Europe provided the professional input for the production of these guidelines, enlisting the expertise of European specialists across the continent. The guidelines are now being used by a diverse group of European countries.
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute (OSI) is a private operating and grantmaking foundation based in New York City that serves as the hub of the Open Society Network, a group of autonomous foundations and organizations in over 50 countries. This network implements a range of initiatives that aim to promote open society by shaping government policy and supporting education, media, public health and human and women's rights, as well as social, legal and economic reform. To diminish and prevent the negative consequences of globalization, the Network seeks to foster global open society by increasing collaboration with other nongovernmental organizations, governments and international institutions. OSI was created in 1993 by investor and philanthropist George Soros to support his foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Those foundations were established, starting in 1984, to help former communist countries in their transition to democracy. The Network has expanded its geographic reach to include foundations and initiatives in Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus, Haiti, Latin America, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, Turkey and the United States. OSI also supports selective projects in other parts of the world.
USAID
USAID is an independent federal U.S. government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. The agency works to support long-term and equitable economic growth and advancing U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting:
- economic growth, agricultural and trade;
- global health; and,
- democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance.
USAID headquarters are located in Washington, D.C.; the agency also has field offices around the world. USAID works in close partnership with private voluntary organizations, indigenous organizations, universities, American businesses, international agencies, other governments, and other U.S. government agencies.
WHO/Euro
WHO/ Euro is the regional office for the World Health Organization, the United Nations specialized agency for health. One of WHO/Euro's chief means of fulfilling its mission is by serving as a health intelligence resource to help countries make evidence-based policies that benefit public health. In this capacity, it supports activities to ensure that relevant evidence is collated, ordered and used at all policy and operational levels. By providing decision-makers with information, analyses and case studies on which approaches work and which do not, WHO/Euro helps make the case for investing in public health. The program continues to strengthen the integrated public health response to sexually transmitted infections (STI)/HIV/AIDS. Building on lessons learned and local capacity, it supports the most affected countries in planning, implementing and evaluating national programs.
