BIOPHICS (Center of Excellence for Biomedical and Public Health Informatics) 
Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University 
420/6 Ratchawithi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand 
Tel: +66(0)2354 9181-86; Fax: +66(0)2354 9187

BIOPHICS, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand, 
Receives Grand Challenges Explorations Funding

BANGKOK, THAILAND – BIOPHICS (The Center of Excellence for Biomedical and Public Health Informatics), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand, announced today that it will receive funding through Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that enables researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges. Dr. Jaranit Kaewkungwal will pursue an innovative global health research project, Titled "Cell Phone-Based Vaccination Program for Stateless Children".
Grand Challenges Explorations funds scientists and researchers worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Dr. Jaranit Kaewkungwal's project is one of 108 Grand Challenges Explorations grants announced today. 

Projects that are receiving funding show promise in tackling priority global health issues where solutions do not yet exist. This includes finding effective methods to eliminate or control infectious diseases such as polio and HIV as well as discovering new sanitation technologies.
To learn more about Grand Challenges Explorations, visit www.grandchallenges.org.

The Project
The main objective of the project is to build an effective mechanism using a cell-phone based solution to achieve the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) coverage targets among under-served vulnerable groups. The solution will include two system functionalities on phone-to-phone information sharing for identification and prevention. Identification refers to case registration into the EPI scheme for stateless children, while prevention refers to case management of the receipt of fundamental vaccinations, plus health communications aimed at behavioral change, to improve healthcare-services seeking and access behaviors.

This is a joint project between:
BIOPHICS (Center of Excellence for Biomedical and Public Health Informatics)
Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University
420/6 Ratchawithi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Tel: +66(0)2354 9181-86; Fax: +66(0)2354 9187
BIOPHICS Website: http://www.biophics.org/
Faculty of Tropical Medicine Website: http://www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/eng/index-eng.php
and
Faculty of Public Health, Mae Fah Luang University
Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand. Tel. +66(0)5391-6027-8; Fax. 66(0)5391-6029
Website: http://www.mfu.ac.th/en/index.php

About Grand Challenges Explorations
Grand Challenges Explorations is a US$100 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Launched in 2008, Grand Challenge Explorations grants have already been awarded to nearly 500 researchers from over 40 countries. The grant program is open to anyone from any discipline and from any organization. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short, two-page online applications and no preliminary data required. Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have an opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to US$1 million.

BIOPHICS is the Center of Excellence for Biomedical and Public Health Informatics, located at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. The goal of the center is to be a resource for both "teaching and reaching" the public with integrity and quality health informatics. The center's mission is not only to serve Thailand's needs, but also to reach out to other countries, especially those in the same tropical environment. It also bridges and networks with other existing centers for knowledge-based and health informatics for truly global health outcomes.
BIOPHICS provides a wide range of development, management, and consulting services to the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology, academic institutes, and public-health organizations. BIOPHICS has had extensive experience managing clinical databases for several large clinical trials as well as other observational studies and a disease registry. BIOPHICS also undertakes computerized system development for disease surveillance, patient/volunteer tracking, and medical/laboratory data, and conducting and consulting for research studies related to the applications of genetic statistics, bioinformatics, and clinical informatics.