The World Health Organization’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) supports Impact Grants for Regional Priorities, a research funding scheme designed to help researchers and institutions in low- and middle-income countries develop practical solutions to infectious diseases of poverty.
The grants focus on implementation research — research that helps turn proven health interventions, policies and strategies into effective action that can improve population health.
According to TDR, the scheme also aims to strengthen research capacity within individuals and institutions while encouraging collaboration between national and international research partners.
WHO TDR Impact Grants Overview
| Funding information | Details |
|---|---|
| Organization | WHO/TDR |
| Grant programme | Impact Grants for Regional Priorities |
| Main focus | Implementation research |
| Geographic focus | Low- and middle-income countries |
| Diseases | Infectious diseases of poverty |
| Grant size | US$10,000–US$15,000 per grant |
| Eligible applicants | Researchers, health-care workers and relevant institutions |
| Potential organizations | Ministries of Health, academic institutions, research institutes, NGOs and professional/civil service organizations |
| Collaboration | International and multi-institutional collaboration encouraged |
| Assessment | Competitive evaluation |
| Key criteria | Scientific merit and planned public-health impact |
| Regional implementation | WHO regional offices |
| Current strategy | TDR Strategy 2023–2029 |
| Application | Through specific calls published by TDR |
What Are the WHO TDR Impact Grants?
The Impact Grants are intended to support research that can produce practical improvements in the prevention, treatment, control or elimination of infectious diseases affecting populations in resource-constrained settings.
TDR identifies three overall objectives:
- Strengthening research capacity among relevant individuals and institutions.
- Generating new knowledge, solutions and implementation strategies that countries can use to control and eliminate infectious diseases.
- Encouraging intersectoral dialogue and a One Health approach.
This makes the programme different from a conventional academic research grant focused primarily on generating publications.
The emphasis is on research that can lead to health improvements and practical implementation.
How Much Funding Is Available?
The grants are relatively small compared with many international research programmes.
TDR states that Impact Grants provide approximately:
US$10,000 to US$15,000 per grant.
This funding level makes the scheme particularly suitable for focused implementation-research projects rather than large-scale infrastructure or multi-year research programmes.
Organizations should therefore design projects that can realistically produce meaningful results within a relatively modest research budget.
Who Can Apply?
TDR says the programme encourages applications from health-care workers and researchers, including people working within organizations such as:
- Ministries of Health
- National tropical-disease control programmes
- Communicable-disease control programmes
- Academic institutions
- Research institutes
- Nongovernmental organizations
- Professional societies
- Civil-service organizations involved in tropical-disease research
The central geographic focus is researchers working in developing countries and low- and middle-income countries.
However, applicants should always check the individual regional call because the precise priorities and eligibility requirements can vary between WHO regions.
What Research Areas Are Supported?
The scheme focuses on infectious diseases of poverty and research priorities identified jointly by TDR and the relevant WHO regional office.
Previous supported projects have covered areas including:
- Tuberculosis
- Malaria
- Leishmaniasis
- Hepatitis C
- Snakebite
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Multidrug resistance
- Tropical and communicable diseases
- Maternal and child health
- Disease diagnostics
- Disease-control strategies
TDR’s previous project results also highlight research involving the GeneXpert molecular diagnostic tool for tuberculosis, household costs associated with TB, malaria treatment and control, vector control and other public-health interventions.
Implementation Research Is at the Core
One of the most important features of this funding scheme is its focus on implementation research.
Implementation research looks at questions such as:
How can an effective health intervention actually work in a particular community, health system or country?
For example, research could investigate:
- How to improve access to an existing diagnostic tool.
- How to increase uptake of a proven treatment.
- How to decentralize healthcare services.
- How to reduce barriers to disease testing.
- How health systems can better implement disease-control strategies.
- How communities can be engaged in prevention programmes.
- How existing interventions can be adapted to local circumstances.
This practical orientation is central to the scheme.
Collaboration Is Encouraged
TDR strongly encourages cooperation between researchers and institutions.
Applications involving researchers from different institutions are particularly encouraged, including collaborations involving more than one country.
This creates an opportunity for applicants to develop partnerships between:
- Universities
- Research institutes
- Ministries of Health
- NGOs
- Disease-control programmes
- Professional organizations
- International research partners
A collaborative proposal can therefore demonstrate that the research has potential beyond a single institution.
WHO Regional Offices Play an Important Role
The Impact Grants are a joint initiative between TDR and WHO regional offices.
The six WHO regions involved are:
- African Region
- Region of the Americas
- South-East Asia Region
- European Region
- Eastern Mediterranean Region
- Western Pacific Region
Projects are conducted by researchers in developing countries, while the grants are implemented and managed by the relevant WHO regional offices.
Since 2014, the scheme has focused on implementation research, with individual WHO regions taking greater responsibility for identifying research priorities together with TDR.
This means applicants should pay close attention to the regional priorities included in the relevant call.
How Are Applications Evaluated?
TDR says proposals are selected through a competitive evaluation conducted by WHO staff in the relevant regional office together with TDR.
The assessment considers two major elements:
Scientific merit
Reviewers consider the quality and credibility of the proposed research.
Applicants should therefore clearly explain:
- The research problem.
- The research question.
- The methodology.
- Why the proposed approach is appropriate.
- How the research will generate useful evidence.
Planned public-health impact
The project should also demonstrate how its findings could contribute to improving public health.
This is especially important because the scheme is focused on implementation research.
A proposal that produces academically interesting findings but has no clear pathway toward improving disease control may be less aligned with the programme’s objectives.
Examples of Previous Research
TDR’s historical results show that Impact and Small Research Grant projects have addressed practical health-system and disease-control challenges.
Examples include research into:
Tuberculosis
Projects examined areas such as:
- Decentralizing TB care.
- Moving from inpatient to outpatient models.
- Molecular diagnostics.
- GeneXpert implementation.
- The household burden of TB.
- Catastrophic costs associated with TB.
Malaria
Research included:
- Malaria treatment strategies.
- Malaria control.
- Digital and mobile approaches.
- Connecting rural health workers with malaria expertise.
Leishmaniasis
Projects investigated:
- Detection.
- Prevention.
- Control.
- Vector-control approaches.
Antimicrobial resistance
The programme has also supported work examining antimicrobial and multidrug resistance.
Snakebite
Snakebite has been another area addressed through previous research.
These examples illustrate the breadth of the scheme while maintaining its focus on infectious diseases and practical public-health challenges.
What Can the Research Produce?
The programme’s previous projects generated several types of outputs.
New knowledge
Projects can generate evidence that helps policymakers and health programmes make better decisions.
Policy and learning materials
TDR reports that many project teams developed practical materials for:
- Policymakers
- Public-health officials
- Students
- Healthcare professionals
- Local health advocacy groups
Tools and practices
Some researchers identified tools and practices that could potentially be transferred to other public-health programmes.
Knowledge briefings
Previous projects also generated knowledge briefs synthesizing findings from multiple projects around common themes.
Examples include:
- Decentralizing TB care.
- Leishmaniasis detection and control.
- Molecular diagnostics for rapid TB detection.
- Reducing catastrophic TB costs for households.
Open Access and Research Data
Another notable feature is TDR’s approach to research outputs.
TDR states that publications resulting from supported projects and associated data are made available as global public goods under the TDR Open Access policy.
This can increase the potential value of funded research beyond the original project team.
Researchers should therefore consider from the beginning how their findings could be communicated to policymakers, health professionals and other researchers.
Is This a Fully Funded Grant?
It is better not to describe the Impact Grants as fully funded grants.
The source specifies the grant amount of US$10,000–US$15,000, but it does not state that the programme covers every project expense or provides a comprehensive package covering salaries, travel, equipment and other costs.
The exact allowable costs and financial conditions should be checked in the specific regional call for applications.
Is the WHO TDR Grant Currently Open?
The page provided describes the Impact Grants programme and directs applicants to the TDR Grants page for calls for applications, but it does not itself provide a current universal application deadline.
This is important because the programme operates through regional calls rather than one permanent application window.
Applicants should therefore monitor TDR’s grants announcements and the relevant WHO regional office.
Do not use an old deadline from a previous regional call as though it were a current deadline.
How to Find New Calls
The official programme page directs applicants to TDR’s grants section for current calls.
Applicants should monitor:
- TDR grant announcements.
- WHO regional office announcements.
- Specific regional research priorities.
- Application deadlines.
- Eligibility requirements.
- Required application documents.
The regional nature of the programme means that opportunities may appear at different times.
Who Should Consider Applying?
The programme could be particularly relevant to:
University researchers
Researchers at universities in low- and middle-income countries can use the grants to investigate practical disease-control and implementation challenges.
Public-health researchers
Researchers working on infectious diseases can develop evidence that supports national health programmes.
Ministry of Health professionals
Government health professionals can investigate implementation problems affecting disease-control programmes.
NGOs
Eligible NGOs working in tropical diseases and related public-health areas may find opportunities to conduct research connected to their programmes.
Research institutes
Institutions specializing in infectious diseases, public health, epidemiology or health systems can use the funding to develop implementation research.
Professional societies
Professional organizations involved in tropical-disease research may also be eligible depending on the specific call.
What Makes a Strong Application?
A competitive application should clearly connect the research question to a real public-health problem.
Start with a specific problem
Avoid broad proposals such as:
“We want to study malaria in our country.”
Instead, identify a precise implementation problem.
For example:
“Why are eligible rural patients not receiving malaria testing within the recommended timeframe?”
The second question is much easier to turn into implementation research.
Explain the intervention
If the research involves an existing intervention, clearly describe what it is and why implementation is currently inadequate.
Demonstrate potential impact
Explain how the research could improve:
- Disease detection.
- Treatment.
- Prevention.
- Health-service delivery.
- Disease surveillance.
- Community engagement.
- National disease-control programmes.
Build relevant partnerships
Where appropriate, involve health authorities, universities, research institutes and community organizations.
Keep the project realistic
With a grant of US$10,000–US$15,000, applicants should avoid designing projects whose scope requires substantially more resources than the funding can provide.
One Health Approach
TDR specifically identifies intersectoral dialogue and a One Health approach among the scheme’s objectives.
Applicants whose research naturally involves interactions between:
- Human health
- Animal health
- Environmental factors
may therefore want to consider whether a One Health perspective is relevant to their research question.
However, applicants should not force a One Health component into a proposal simply because it appears in the programme objectives.
The approach should be relevant to the actual research problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does the WHO TDR Impact Grant provide?
The programme states that grants are approximately US$10,000–US$15,000 per grant.
Who funds the programme?
The Impact Grants are a joint initiative between TDR and WHO regional offices under the TDR Strategy 2023–2029.
What countries are eligible?
The scheme supports researchers in developing countries, particularly low- and middle-income countries. Specific eligibility should be checked in each regional call.
What type of research is supported?
The programme focuses on implementation research on infectious diseases of poverty.
Can NGOs apply?
NGOs and other organizations involved in tropical-disease research are among the types of organizations TDR encourages to apply, subject to the eligibility requirements of the particular call.
Can universities apply?
Academic institutions are specifically identified among the institutions that may participate in the scheme, subject to the relevant call’s eligibility requirements.
Can government researchers apply?
Yes. TDR specifically identifies researchers and health-care workers working in national or regional tropical and communicable-disease control programmes within ministries of health.
Are international collaborations encouraged?
Yes. Applications involving cooperation between researchers from different institutions, particularly across countries, are strongly encouraged.
What are the main evaluation criteria?
TDR states that evaluation considers scientific merit and planned public-health impact.
Does the grant support basic research?
The programme is specifically focused on implementation research, so proposals should demonstrate a clear connection to implementing solutions for infectious diseases of poverty.
What diseases can be studied?
Previous projects have covered diseases and issues including TB, malaria, leishmaniasis, hepatitis C, snakebite and antimicrobial resistance. The exact priorities depend on the regional call.
Are publications from funded projects open access?
TDR states that publications and data resulting from supported projects are made available as global public goods in accordance with its Open Access policy.
Is there one annual deadline?
Not necessarily. Calls are connected to regional priorities and should be checked through TDR’s grants page.
Opportunities Feed Verdict
WHO TDR Impact Grants are a strong option for researchers and public-health institutions in low- and middle-income countries seeking relatively small grants for practical infectious-disease implementation research.
The programme’s strongest feature is its emphasis on turning research into solutions that can be applied by countries. Rather than simply funding theoretical research, the scheme is designed around health improvement, implementation strategies and research-capacity strengthening.
The US$10,000–US$15,000 funding range makes the programme most appropriate for focused research projects rather than large-scale programmes. Applicants should therefore develop a clearly defined research question, realistic methodology and measurable pathway toward public-health impact.
Universities, research institutes, ministries of health, NGOs and professional organizations working on infectious diseases of poverty should monitor the TDR grants page for new regional calls.
Most importantly, applicants should check the specific regional call before preparing a proposal because priorities, eligibility requirements and deadlines can vary.
Official resource: WHO TDR Grants
SEO Keywords
WHO TDR grants, WHO research grants 2026, WHO TDR Impact Grants, TDR Impact Grants for Regional Priorities, WHO grants for researchers, WHO grants for developing countries, WHO research funding, WHO infectious disease grants, WHO grants for NGOs, WHO grants for universities, TDR research grants, TDR grants 2026, TDR Impact Grant 2026, global health research grants, infectious disease research grants, tropical disease research grants, implementation research grants, health research grants for developing countries, research grants for African researchers, WHO grants for African researchers, small research grants, US$10000 research grants, US$15000 research grants, public health research grants, global health funding opportunities, One Health research grants, infectious diseases of poverty grants, malaria research grants, tuberculosis research grants, leishmaniasis research grants, antimicrobial resistance research grants, WHO Africa research grants, WHO regional research grants, grants for health researchers, NGO health research funding, research funding for low and middle income countries, TDR fellowship and grants, WHO TDR funding opportunities
For more opportunities like these, be sure to follow us on Facebook, join our WhatsApp Group and Channel
Also Check
United Nations University (UNU) Career Opportunities 2026: Global Jobs and Internship Openings
Shell Graduate Programme 2027 in the UK Applications Open September 2026
Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Program 2027 for Nonprofits Opens Spring 2027
Human Rights Watch Africa Division Intern 2026: Great Lakes Region Internship
