Applications for the Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Diseases and the Health & Health Services Research Fund will open tomorrow. The deadline for submissions is November 15.

The $450 million fund for infectious diseases considers applications for research into the control of infectious disease in aetiology (the study of causes or origins of disease), epidemiology (the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations) and public health, basic research, and clinical and health services research.

Collaborative research with the Mainland and overseas institutions is encouraged. This year the fund will focus on avian influenza.

The $26 million health services fund aims to boost public health, improve the quality of life, and enhance health system's standard and cost-effectiveness. It has three broad themes centred on public health, health services and Chinese medicine.

Funding priorities

Higher funding priorities will be given to the following areas for the infectious-diseases fund:

* respiratory infectious diseases - Avian influenza and Tuberculosis; and

* vector-borne diseases.

For the health-services fund priority will be given to:

* smoking, mental health and healthy community;

* cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and respiratory disease; and

* interactions between Chinese and Western medicines.

Full details are available on the Research Fund Secretariat's website. Guidance notes and application forms are obtainable from the secretariat's website. Send questions by email to rfs@hwfb.gov.hk.