Addressing India’s TB Challenge through Research, Innovation and Partnerships
The initiative of developing the Consortium was undertaken after a consensus was obtained from various Government, Non-Government and international research organizations in a high level meeting on February 2016 with officials from MoH&FW, DBT, CSIR, DST, TDB, WHO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The Consortium began its activities in August, 2016 after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Tata Trusts to provide a seed grant after the approval of Hon’ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare. A stakeholders’ meeting was held in October, 2016 in which representatives of 10 ministries/ departments/ organizations participated and agreed to support the Consortium through various mechanisms. Landscaping analysis of national and international leads for each of the four thematic areas was done for analysing and prioritizing the leads. A Working Group Meeting was held in October, 2016 for preparing work plans and re-prioritization of leads with plan of action. After the recommendations of the International Scientific Advisory Group (ISAG) meeting in November, 2016; the selected projects for each of the thematic areas are currently being carried forward. The plan for the next five years is to support projects of high priority with regard to diagnosis, prevention and treatment of TB.
