The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is seeking proposals for innovative applied research on resilience for public health, under a recently issued Broad Agency Announcement (BAA).
The concept of resilience has gained considerable traction in the public health and healthcare arena over the last decade, accompanied by a proliferation of models, programs, and interventions addressing different levels of analysis (individual, organizational, community, population).
The BAA seeks to further understanding of public health resilience and address significant gaps in the following areas:
– Identifying critical issues in integration of public health, healthcare, and emergency management systems for better health outcomes following disasters.
– The application of newer paradigms and methods (e.g., social networking theory; systems dynamics modeling; novel qualitative approaches; integration of multiple data types) to understand and enhance community resilience.
– Building resilience for those with chronic conditions, including the estimated 60 million individuals in the U.S. who suffer from two or more chronic conditions and are particularly affected by significant gaps in connectivity, integrated care, and coordination of health services in our health care system.
– Identifying the particular characteristics, resources, or actions taken by special groups (e.g., military families) that have been shown to demonstrate resilience in the face of significant stressors; determining if these characteristics and behaviors can be translated to other vulnerable populations.
– The development and validation of systems and tools to measure and monitor community resilience and determine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the myriad resilience.
Contracts may be awarded to educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, state and local government, and private industry for research and development under this BAA.
The solicitation was issued by the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. Requirements and white paper submission instructions are available under Solicitation Number: 2014-N-15798.
