EGPAF awarded research grant to continue its efforts to end pediatric TB
Today, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundations celebrates the announcement that it will receive critical funding through a $200 million research grant to combat TB globally. The Supporting, Mobilizing, and Accelerating Research for Tuberculosis Elimination (SMART4TB) grant is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and will be awarded to John Hopkins Medicine (JHM) over a five-year period. “On behalf of EGPAF, I could not be more thrilled that we have been selected as a recipient of SMART4TB funding to address critical gaps in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB, particularly in pregnant women and children,” said Dr. Laura Guay, EGPAF’s Vice President of Research. EGPAF joins an exceptional consortium of global leaders in TB research, training, advocacy and program implementation, which, in addition to JHM, includes UCSF, KNCV TB Foundation, TAG, with regional hubs in Uganda (Walimu), South Africa (WITS), India (YRG Care), Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz State Medical Academy), Viet Nam (VICTORY Network).
According to UNAIDS, TB is the main cause of death among people living with HIV accounting for around one third of AIDS-related deaths globally. In 2020, an estimated 214,000 people living with HIV died from TB – nearly 10% of whom were children. Through funding from the SMART4TB grant, EGPAF and fellow consortium members will research and evaluate best practices aimed at detecting, treating, controlling, and ending antenatal and pediatric TB infections ahead of the 2035 global goals. “Ensuring that the global health community includes children and pregnant women in its response to TB is critical to not only ending TB but achieving an AIDS-free generation as well,” Dr. Guay continued.
SMART4TB allows EGPAF to build off its childhood TB work, named Catalyzing Pediatric TB (CaP TB), a programmatic initiative funded by Unitaid focused on technical research, diagnostic evaluation, and policy recommendations aimed at ending childhood TB. Like CaP TB, SMART4TB will support EGPAF’s work at the community level in which EGPAF will leverage its relationship with national ministries of health and national TB programs to transform technical research findings into actionable policy recommendations. Priority countries where EGPAF will focus these efforts include: Kenya, DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. “We simply must address childhood TB if we are to end pediatric HIV,” said Dr. Guay. “SMART4TB gives EGPAF the resources we need to continue on in our work to realizing an AIDS-free generation as well as a TB-free future,” she concluded.
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