Project description
Swab-based molecular tuberculosis diagnosis for sub-Saharan Africa
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health challenge, particularly in high-burden regions, where delays in diagnosis and treatment caused by limited access to rapid and affordable testing contribute to ongoing transmission, increased disease severity, and preventable deaths. The EU-funded SWAB-IMPACT project will develop a swab-based molecular test for tuberculosis. The project will conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial in Zambia and South Africa, two countries with a high TB burden, to evaluate its effectiveness in improving TB diagnosis and treatment. Additionally, it will assess the feasibility of implementing point-of-care (POC) testing and estimate its cost-effectiveness. Partnering with European and African organisations, it will expand a diagnostic solution across sub-Saharan Africa.
Objective
Earlier more accessible tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and treatment is vital to achieve global targets for TB elimination. A key challenge in high TB burden settings is the current diagnostic approach at primary care level. Despite substantial investment in molecular diagnostics for TB, current tests are too expensive and complex to implement near patients and rely on sputum which many people cannot produce. Therefore, samples are referred to regional ‘hub’ laboratories, leading to delays of several days and contributing to significant loss to follow up, morbidity and mortality. SWAB-IMPACT will address this challenge by implementing an innovative swab-based molecular TB test (Pluslife MiniDock MTB), which is accurate, fast, low-cost, simple and battery-operated, thus meeting the WHO targets for true point-of-care (POC) testing. Over 36 months, this project will (1) establish the effectiveness of this approach in improving TB diagnosis and treatment in primary care clinics through a cluster randomised controlled trial, (2) assess implementation feasibility of POC swab-based molecular testing through mixed methods, and (3) estimating the incremental cost, cost-effectiveness and budget impact of swab-based molecular testing. The project will take place in Zambia and South Africa, both high TB burden settings, and leverage a European-African partnership with experience in clinical trials, diagnostic development, implementation science and health economics. We envisage substantial impact on policy making by generating the evidence required for local adoption and scale-up in project-countries. Furthermore, we aim to accelerate the deployment of this transformative POC diagnostic solution in sub-Saharan Africa for other public health challenges by demonstrating a scalable model for TB.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.1 - Health
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-GH-EDCTP3-2025-04-two-stage
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1601 Isando
South Africa
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.