1 November 2018 – The World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) are pleased to announce the grant awards for 2018–2019 call for applications of the Joint EMRO/TDR Small Grants Scheme (SGS) for implementation research in infectious diseases of poverty.

The goal of the TDR strategy is to foster research on infectious diseases of poverty that will strengthen research capacity in developing countries; develop implementation strategies and solutions; and lead to health improvement. Additionally, a primary objective of this strategy is to translate research results into policy and practice and promote the use of research evidence by communities and government agencies to reduce the disease burden in their respective countries.

The grants were awarded to support evidence generated from local research for the prevention and control of tropical diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, with special emphasis on research on tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, as well as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. They are linked to two EMRO activity outcomes: a workshop on Regional Health Research Prioritization held in February 2018 and a special meeting for identification of TDR priorities by WHO/EMRO technical units that took place in April 2018. The funded projects will focus on implementation/operational research related to regional priority topics.

The sixteen small grant projects awarded in eight countries are listed below.

Country	Grantee	Project
Afghanistan	National Malaria and Leishmaniasis Control Program	Assess and compare cost effectiveness of two types of preventive measurements for cutaneous lieshmaniasis in Kabul city
Egypt	National Liver Institute, Menoufia University	Estimating economic burden of HCV treatment strategies in Egypt, 2018–2025
Egypt	Ministry of Health	Economic analysis of HCV different screening algorithms in Egypt
Egypt	Faculty of Medicine – Ain Shams University	Assessing household catastrophic total cost of tuberculosis and their determinants in Egypt: A cohort prospective study
Egypt	Cairo Association against Smoking, Tuberculosis and Lung diseases (CASTLE)	Impact of private medical practitioners’ involvement on tuberculosis case notification to the National Tuberculosis Control Program in Gharbia governorate, Egypt
Islamic Republic of Iran	Medical Faculty, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht/Iran	Cost of HCV interfamilial screening in HCV seropositive injection drug abusers
Morocco	Moroccan Ministry of Health	Cost-effectiveness and acceptability of a rapid diagnostic test for cutaneous leishmaniasis in Morocco
Occupied Palestinian Territory	Leishmaniases Research Unit-Jericho-Palestine	Fogging of hyrax dens by Pyrethroid derivatives: an attempt to control sand fly density in rural areas in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Pakistan	National Institute of Health Islamabad, Pakistan	Is tuberculosis treatment truly free? A study to identify key factors contributing towards the catastrophic cost of TB care in Pakistan
Pakistan	Ministry of Health, National Health Services Regulation & Coordination, Government of Pakistan	Effects of vector-control interventions on changes in risk of malaria among pregnant women through community participation in Tharparkar district, Sindh province, Pakistan
Sudan	Ministry of Health	Feasibility of provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) in private healthcare sectors, Sudan 2018–2019
Sudan	Ministry of Health	Estimation of the risk factors associated with multidrug resistance TB in Sudan
Sudan	Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum	Assessing the burden of co-infection of malaria and Aedes-borne arboviral diseases in the Khartoum State, Sudan
Sudan	Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum	Strengthening of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) control in Eastern Sudan
Sudan	Medical Entomology Department, National Public Health Laboratory, Federal Ministry of Health	Occurrence of Malaria and Dengue co-infection and their vectors surveys in Kassala city, Sudan
Yemen	University of Science and Technology, Sana'a	Assessment of the burden of concurrent infections with malaria and dengue among febrile patients in Hodeidah governorate, Yemen

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