The Stop TB Partnership’s Board approved USD 16 million in new funding to implement and scale up innovative projects aimed at improving TB detection and care services in TB REACH’s fifth call for proposals. This selection process was TB REACH’s most competitive ever - over 530 applications requesting USD 267.7 million were reviewed and just 38 (7%) projects were selected for funding.
The Wave 5 selected projects are currently implemented in 19 countries. The projects offer great diversity regarding their innovative approaches and the various key populations they serve in the locally different epidemiological and resource contexts. For the first time ever in a TB REACH funding Wave, grants were awarded for TB case detection projects as well as for improving TB treatment adherence and outcomes as well as for developing innovative products as aids for TB health service delivery. The portfolio of projects included:
- Improving access and care for women and girls in Afghanistan
- Screening of children at MCH/pediatric facilities & contact investigation for childhood TB in Kenya
- Providing services to a marginalized and indigenous population in Namibia
- Delivery of lab results and medicines by drones in Madagascar
- Implementing Search-Treat-Prevent strategies in India & Viet Nam as part of Zero TB Cities
- Using CAD4TB to identify people in need of TB testing in the community in Zambia
- A GeneXpert Omni evaluation with pre-market access provided by FIND in Tanzania
- Evaluating sputum transport mediums to improve test results in Ethiopia
- Graduating from the Challenge Facility for Civil Society to TB REACH for a CBO in Cambodia
- Scaling up private sector engagement in Bangladesh with a 1:2 match of TB REACH funds by Global Fund and USAID/Challenge TB