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For more than 30 years, USAID has played a global
leadership role in supporting research that advances
public health programs and tackles the main causes
of under-five mortality and morbidity in
developing countries. Notable examples of USAID's
achievements in child health research are vitamin A
supplementation of children to prevent
blindness, morbidity, and mortality; field testing
of delivery systems for ivermectin, the most effective
drug against onchocerciasis; field
testing of insecticide-treated bed nets, and the
development and testing of oral rehydration salt
solutions (ORS).
USAID's Child Health Research Project (CHR), 1996-2003,
focused on research that addressed the major
causes of morbidity and mortality in children.
Through CHR support, coordinated, multi-country
trials were conducted, leading to the development
of global standards, guidelines, new tools, approaches
and interventions. Major accomplishments of CHR included the field testing of ORS for the treatment
of diarrhea; identification of and new treatments
for the threat posed by antimicrobial
resistance; field testing of new vaccines
against Hemophilus influenza type B for the prevention
of pneumonia in children; the validation of the
verbal autopsy for determining causes
of infant mortality, and the identification and
development of zinc as a treatment for diarrhea.
Learn about CHR's Achievements and Project
Highlights.
In 2002, in anticipation of a design for a new generation
of health research activities, USAID commissioned an external evaluation
of CHR. The main recommendations were:
- USAID should continue to support the current
focus on child health research as a priority
activity and support research capacity building
in developing countries.
- A follow-on child health research activity
should invite competition/participation by a
range of US academic/research institutions, developing
country and international research institutions,
and international organizations to maximize flexibility
and access to technical and country-specific
expertise.
- A new activity should have a greater emphasis
on collaboration and consultation with a wider
spectrum of USAID and global public health priorities
(e.g. malaria and HIV/AIDS) and involve increased
formal partnerships with US and international
organizations, UN agencies, and foundations.
- A support contractor should be used to facilitate
managerial and administrative functions including
communication and project coordination.
- A technical advisory group should be established
to review progress, help facilitate research
agenda setting, and coordinate with other key
stakeholders.
As a result of the evaluation, a
new framework was designed under which it planned
to carry out a significant part of its future health
research activities. This framework takes into
account the recommendations of the evaluation for
increased capacity building; competition and participation
from a wider range of partners, and collaboration
and consultation with a wider spectrum of USAID
and global priority initiatives.
Building on the successes and findings from CHR, and the external evaluation
of CHR, the Health Research Program (HaRP) was
established in 2003. HaRP is comprised of the Global
Research Activity (GRA) and Country
Research Activity (CRA),
and provides USAID with mechanisms by which to
conduct health research for the development and
testing of new and better tools, technologies,
approaches, policies and/or interventions to improve
the health status of infants, children, mothers,
and families in developing and transitional countries.
These two research activities fall under the newly
developed health research framework. The GRA and
CRA, along with a range of other existing and future
USAID health, nutrition and family planning research
activities, provide USAID with important mechanisms
to address critical global health issues.
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