WHO AFRO/TDR Impact Grants 2026–2027 for Health Research in Africa (Up to US$15,000)

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Applications are open for WHO AFRO/TDR Impact Grants 2026–2027. This call is a joint initiative between TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and the WHO AFRO, which have a mutual interest in strengthening the capacity for health research in developing countries. The call reflects a commitment to increasing the level of implementation research to deliver high quality and cost-efficient health care solutions to people in resource poor settings.

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) and the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) have launched the 2026–2027 Joint WHO African Region/TDR Impact Grants for Implementation Research for Regional Priorities.

The small-grants programme is designed to strengthen implementation research capacity and generate practical evidence that can help African countries improve health systems, increase access to health interventions, and address infectious diseases of poverty.

WHO AFRO/TDR Impact Grants Objectives

The objectives of the impact grants are to:

Strengthen the research capacity of relevant individuals and institutions in countries.
Generate actionable knowledge, context-specific solutions and implementation strategies that can be applied by countries to strengthen health systems and tackle infectious diseases of poverty.
Encourage intersectoral dialogue and a One Health approach.

Research Priorities

The aim of this call is to facilitate and strengthen public health-oriented implementation research. Implementation research activities supported by this call may be complementary to those supported through other stakeholders interested in these research areas.

The focus of this call is on the following priorities, with illustrative research areas below:

Person-centred service delivery across the life course: Implementation research to support the transition from fragmented, vertical programmes toward person-centred primary health care (PHC) models addressing the infectious diseases of poverty.
This includes research on:
- Communicable diseases (TB, malaria, NTDs);
- Referral systems, continuity of care and quality improvement within integrated models; and
- Scalable and sustainable innovations that strengthen comprehensive PHC delivery.
Health systems strengthening, innovation and digital transformation to support control and elimination of infectious diseases: Implementation research addressing systemic bottlenecks that limit scale-up, sustainability and impact of health interventions.
This includes research on:
- Access to essential medicines, diagnostics, laboratory strengthening and supply chains;
- Quality of care improvement strategies;
- Digital health, health information systems, data use for decision-making and appropriate AI-supported tools;
- Innovative service delivery models and emergency preparedness integration; and
- Community system strengthening and cross-sector collaboration.
Environmental health, climate change, one health and emerging threats: Implementation research to address environmental, ecological and multisectoral determinants of health and strengthen system resilience to tackle infectious diseases of poverty.
This includes research on:
- Climate-sensitive diseases and community-based adaptation strategies;
- Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) integration into PHC;
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) containment and rational use of medicines;
- One Health approaches for zoonoses and emerging/re-emerging diseases; and
- Strengthening surveillance, preparedness and response systems for infectious diseases of poverty through multisectoral collaboration.

Grant Details

Funding Information: Up to US$ 15 000 per grant. Co-funding from domestic or other sources is encouraged.
Study duration: The maximum duration for the study is 12 months. The research project must be completed by the end of 2027 (no-cost extension is not permitted).

Eligibility Criteria for WHO AFRO/TDR Impact Grants

WHO AFRO and TDR are committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity in science. Researchers are encouraged to apply irrespective of gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious, cultural and social backgrounds, or (dis)ability status.

In addition, the following criteria should be met:

Proposals may only be submitted in English, French or Portuguese, using the eTDR portal.
Applications are particularly encouraged from qualified applicants who are in the earlier career stage, are women, or are from the group of least-developed countries.
Research proposed must be conducted in the African Region.
The Principal Investigator (PI) and (most of) the research team must be based in an institution in an African Region country or territory, including national tropical/communicable disease control programmes, ministries of health, academic institutions, research institutes and nongovernmental organizations.
The research project must relate to the objective and scope described in the present call.
If implementation is sought to be in a health centre, an authorization letter from the public health manager or director is needed.
Proposals submitted should include an acknowledgement letter signed by the manager of the programme area or the person in charge of the programme related to the project at any level of the public health/healthcare services (e.g. primary health care unit, municipal secretary of health, state department of health, or national ministry or secretary of health).
Applicants must demonstrate experience in operational and/or implementation research. This might include, but is not limited to, evidence of having been trained in operational /implementation research and being able to conduct research independently. Such training could include the TDR Implementation Research Toolkit, the MOOC (massive open online course) on implementation research, or another formal research training experience.