Deadline: 8 November 2016
The Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) is seeking proposals for its research grants to support the scale up interventions for improving overall Tuberculosis (TB) case detection and retention through innovative approaches including active TB case search.
The overall goal is to use the research findings to enhance national effort for increasing TB case detection and retention as well as improving measures of quality of care and treatment outcomes among patients with TB.
Research Topics
The following list contains suggested topics for research in Tuberculosis and TB/HIV:
- Evaluation of the contribution of community intervention to TB case detection and treatment outcomes
- Appraisal of the quality of laboratory services to TB case management (including TAT for AFB microscopy, GeneXpert, referral linkages and sputum transfer mechanisms)
- Assess the quality of service delivery by cadre and type of health facilities involved in TB service
- Assess the referral linkages within the TB programme and how these can minimize loss to follow before and during treatment (including prison inmates, private and public health facilities)
- Assess the outcomes of prophylaxis among eligible clients provided with INH and CPT prophylaxis (paediatric and HIV settings)
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible candidates include:
- State TB programs
- Academic institutions or centers
- Non-profit and for-profit research organizations
- Parastatals
- Individual researchers
- Research-focused NGOs or firms.
- Individual researchers are also encouraged to apply for this funding opportunity. All candidates must have good understanding of the country context and demonstrate familiarity with the Global Fund supported Tuberculosis grant in Nigeria. Candidates must demonstrate competency in supporting country’s research capacity and/or data use.
- Eligible proposals must demonstrate appropriate and rigorous methods to respond to questions of interest to stakeholders in the country. Potential topic areas are listed at the end of the RFP. Proposals should also include data use activities and/or products that help ensure the use of research findings by appropriate stakeholders, which may include:
- The development of a short briefing paper with recommendations and a presentation of the key actionable findings from the analysis;
- Holding a workshop for policymakers and/or program decision makers to discuss key findings and the implication of these findings for policies and programs;
- Organizing a meeting with national or state level staff from the ministry of health to discuss the research findings and develop an action plan based on the findings; and so forth.
Application Procedure
To apply, please submit the following in English:
- Brief cover letter
- Detailed/full research proposal (5-8 pages) with the following sections:
- Background/context, rationale for the study and how this will address low case finding, quality of care and/or improve treatment outcome;
- Research question(s)
- Methodology (description of study location, study design, sample population, sample size estimation, selection of study participants and data collection, data analysis/management)
- Ethical consideration and informed consent
- Survey timeline
- Data use plan and dissemination
- Research tools (questionnaires, interview guide and informed consent form, etc) should be included
For more information, please visit AFRH Research Grants.