India Health Fund launches its Malaria Quest

Tata Trusts’ India Health Fund (IHF) has launched its Malaria Quest – a nationwide search for innovations towards eliminating Malaria in India. This is being partnered by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance Secretariat (APLMA), Roll Back Malaria Partnership, and the Malaria Elimination Research Alliance India of the ICMR and Social Alpha.

The Malaria Quest is aligned with IHF’s vision to foster innovations and support innovative products and processes through comprehensive support to innovators including funding, technical mentorship, handholding for their lab to last mile journey, connecting resources for better adoption, and ensuring sustainability of these efforts, a press release issued by IHF stated.

India has set a target of eliminating Malaria by 2030. Aligned with the national goals, India Health Fund (IHF) aims to promote innovations that supplement human efforts to facilitate greater access, better quality of care and equity and bring together resources to engender transformative change that will effectively address the complex challenges posed by malaria. The Malaria Quest is seeking for innovation on the four problem areas listed below:

1. Innovative technologies to strengthen surveillance to provide accurate estimates of disease burden and data-based-decision making and risk-prediction

2. Developing innovative methods of vector control and personal protection for enhancing or complementing current strategies

3. Improving logistical modalities and quality assurance of malaria consumables

4. Consistently detecting and diagnosing cases of malaria, both in high and low endemic regions

Selected applications stand to receive wide support, including milestone-based funding support for validation, beta prototyping, feasibility studies and pilot introduction, as applicable. The awardees will benefit from collective engagement with national and global stakeholders and access to the global ecosystem working towards Malaria elimination. There will also be hands on mentoring by a committee of experts for guidance on policy and programme, deployment design, and methodology, navigating regulatory landscape and understanding market dynamics.

The application process will remain open till 2nd September 2019.