TB REACH WAVE 7: US$15 million for new TB drugs, new TB technologies and women in charge!
20th September, Geneva: US$15.4 million in start-up and scalability funds will be awarded to 37 grass-roots innovators with a mission to transform tuberculosis (TB) case finding, diagnostics, and care in their country. TB REACH, Stop TB Partnership’s platform for innovation, has now received approval from the Executive Committee to allocate the funds to TB organizations worldwide.
The selected grantees faced tough competition. Launched on
February 18th this year, the Wave 7 call for
applications received 593 letters of intent from which 149
applicants were invited to submit full proposals. After a
rigorous evaluation and face-to-face discussion by the TB
REACH Proposal Review Committee - a team of global TB,
laboratory, community, private sector and gender experts
- 37 proposals were chosen representing TB-combatting
projects in 23 countries.
This year, the empowerment of women was at the center of the
Wave 7 call for proposals and TB REACH sought projects that
focused on people-centered approaches to TB care while igniting
social change by boosting the empowerment of women and
girls.
“It is time we have a TB response that is aligned with
social movements. Empowering women and girls should be the
rule in all development programming not the exception. We can
advance TB diagnostics, improve community case finding, ensure
better treatment outcomes, but always including women as
leaders to make gender inequality a thing of the
past.” said Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB
Partnership.
Throughout Wave 7 evaluation, TB REACH continued to highlight
innovation as a condition of selection: a project in Pakistan
run by a women-led startup will utilize a pioneering tele-health
app to improve opportunities for female doctors by engaging more
of them to screen for TB and provide treatment follow-up to
rural dwellers; a project in Peru will utilize latest
developments in artificial intelligence to evaluate chest X-rays
in female prisons while creating an positive environment for
women to build self-efficacy and a sense of self-worth. In other
settings, Wave 7 projects will build on the successful results
of the work of other partners and donors focused on empowerment
of women and girls, applying these lessons to communities
affected by TB.
TB REACH will sustain a focus on engaging private sector
providers with continued support from USAID. Eight projects were
selected to work with private labs, pharmacists, clinics, and
practitioners to improve TB screening, diagnosis and
recording and reporting, while providing better people-centered
care.
Other groundbreaking Wave 7 highlights include four projects
focused on understanding the use of the exciting new regimen
BPaL in Belarus, South Africa, Tajikistan and Ukraine; projects
in Zambia and Bangladesh that will evaluate promising new
diagnostics including the urine LAM; and a range of
projects to address challenges in diagnosing TB in children and
adolescents.
“TB REACH has long served as a platform for
jump-starting new and creative approaches in TB and this year
we’re extremely proud of the wide range of innovation
evident in the proposals submitted and the courage shown by
our applicants to employ new and promising technologies such
as hand-held X-ray, new treatment regiments, new diagnostics,
tele-health and digital adherence technologies.” said Jacob Creswell, TB REACH Team Leader.
Funding for TB REACH is provided by Global Affairs Canada,
with additional funding from USAID and the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation.
Source:
Stop TB Partnership
