Who can apply
- National tropical disease control programmes
- National communicable disease control programmes
- Ministries of Health
- Academic institutions
- Universities
- Research institutes
- Nongovernmental organizations
- Research teams based in eligible institutions in the WHO African Region
Focus areas
- Person-centred primary health care
- Communicable diseases
- Tuberculosis
- Malaria
- Neglected tropical diseases
- Referral systems
- Continuity of care
- Quality improvement
- Health systems strengthening
- Digital health
- Health information systems
- Artificial intelligence-supported health tools
- Essential medicines and diagnostics
- Laboratory strengthening
- Supply chains
- Community systems strengthening
- Environmental health
- Climate change
- Water, sanitation and hygiene
- Antimicrobial resistance
- One Health
- Zoonotic diseases
- Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases
- Surveillance and emergency preparedness
Requirements
- The research must be conducted in the WHO African Region.
- The Principal Investigator and most of the research team must be based at an institution in a WHO African Region country or territory.
- The proposed research must fit the objectives and scope of the call.
- Applicants must demonstrate experience in operational and/or implementation research.
- Applications must be submitted in English, French or Portuguese.
- If the research is to be implemented in a health centre, authorization from the public health manager or director is required.
- The proposal must include an acknowledgement letter signed by the relevant health programme manager or responsible health-service official.
- Funding is conditional on obtaining ethical approval from the relevant research ethics committees.
- The prescribed research proposal form must be fully completed and signed.
- The PI curriculum vitae must not exceed one page.
- The project costing must be provided in US dollars.
Application steps
- Review the official WHO AFRO/TDR call and select a research priority.
- Develop a public health-oriented implementation research question linked to a real implementation bottleneck.
- Identify the Principal Investigator and research team at an eligible African institution.
- Secure the required programme acknowledgement letter and any health-centre authorization.
- Prepare the prescribed research proposal form.
- Prepare the project budget in US dollars.
- Prepare the PI CV of no more than one page.
- Obtain or prepare the required ethical approval documentation.
- Combine the completed proposal, ethical approval, budget, CV and acknowledgement letter into one PDF.
- Name the PDF using the applicant's name followed by SGS2026.
- Create or log into an eTDR Community Site account.
- Submit the complete application online through the eTDR portal by 15 September 2026 at 17:00 CEST.
Global Grants Hub strategic note
A strong Africa-focused research grant for NGOs, ministries, universities and research institutions with genuine implementation or operational research capacity. The opportunity is especially relevant to organisations working on health-system bottlenecks, digital health, referral systems, WASH, climate-sensitive disease, One Health and infectious diseases of poverty. This is not a general programme implementation grant; applicants must demonstrate a credible implementation research question, research experience and the required health-sector documentation.