COMDIS Ranked Third Best for Operational Research into TB Globally

At the recent Stop TB Partnership symposium at the World Lung Conference in December 2009, Christian Lienhardt of the World Health Organisation (WHO) presented the results of a global survey of operational research into TB. The top three groups doing operational research (OR) were found to be KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation (64 projects), CDC (36) and COMDIS (33). Since there is a big push by WHO for OR in TB, these results are a considerable feather in COMDIS's cap. DFID was cited as being the fourth largest single funder of OR, after local entities (largely Ministries of Health), USAID and the Global Fund. These findings will be submitted for publication shortly.

Other News Coming out of the 2009 World Lung Conference

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD), host of the recent World Lung Conference, is also actively encouraging Operational Research (OR) in TB control programmes, and will be running an IUATLD-funded Research Fellowship scheme. There is also talk of developing an international TB OR agenda; a global database of TB OR; and a push to build OR capacity and encourage financial investment in OR. Potential funding sources could be the Global Fund, TREAT TB and the Wellcome African Institutions initiative.