Request for Proposals (RFP) for TB Innovations

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India Health Fund (IHF), in collaboration with ACT Grants, IPE Global, and IKP Knowledge Park, invites proposals for innovative solutions in digital health, screening, diagnostics, and medical devices to strengthen TB and primary healthcare in underserved communities. Despite progress, TB remains a major challenge in India, with 2.7 million cases and 300,000 deaths in 2023. Solutions addressing diagnosis, treatment adherence, drug resistance, and climate resilience will be prioritized. IHF aims to support transformative innovations that improve early detection, disease management, and health system resilience.

Focus Areas

Read more about the scope of innovations for each of these focus areas here

• Enhancing TB screening & diagnostics for vulnerable populations.

• Strengthening TB detection across the disease spectrum.

• Digital innovations for TB detection and management.

• Innovations for easy sample collection, handling, and storage.

Programme Offerings

• Milestone-based funding for development, validation, and deployment.
  
  

• Need-based mentoring and guidance from ecosystem partners.
  
  

• Deployment & market access support for late-stage/market-ready solutions.

Project Duration and Budget

The project duration along with clear project outcomes defined by the applicant will be subject to detailed evaluation and approval by the funding committee. Promising proposals will be supported with funding by IHF, ACT Grants, IPE Global and IKP contingent on milestones achieved at different stages.

Evaluation and selection criteria

• Proposals should demonstrate a clear understanding of the primary healthcare challenges being addressed and the potential impact on healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. They should also outline a clear path to implementation, including any necessary partnerships or collaborations. We are open to both digital and digitally enabled technologies. 

• We welcome proposals from startups, academic institutions nonprofits, established companies and others. Proposals will be evaluated based on their innovation, feasibility, potential impact, and scalability.

Minimum Eligibility

• Applications must be submitted by entities registered and incorporated in India.

• The proposal is relevant and aligned to at least one of the problem statements given above.

• Transparency in furnishing relevant data, including validation/pilot data, in support of the proposed innovation, should be agreeable to the applicant.

• The innovation should be demonstrating improvement over the currently available solutions or approaches in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, safety, turnaround time, usability in peripheral settings, unit pricing.

• Innovation should have the potential for scale-up across diverse settings.

• It is desirable if the innovation is amenable to being multi-disease applicable.

• As suggested through this document, applicants are encouraged to consider the impact of climate change as a key factor for design, development and deployment of their innovations.

The following falls outside the scope of the Call and will not be supported by partners:

• Basic science research 

• Epidemiological studies/surveys/disease burden analysis

• Proposals focused on pure service delivery

• Innovations in the ideation/ proof-of-concept stage/ formative studies

• Applications which propose incremental solutions without a clear innovative element

• Nonalignment with national goals of Government

• Nonalignment with the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) related to healthcare

How to register?

1. Sign up on the India Partner Network (IPN) platform. NGO partners can log in if already registered.

2. Fill in the Organisation Profile sections “Basic” and “Compliance”. It is mandatory for the NGO partner to add details in the Basic and Compliance sections (and reach a 100% Profile Completion state) to access the RFP application form.

3. Click on the register button above and fill in the required details which are a part of the RFP application form.

4. Attach the Supporting document to the application before submitting it. 

5. Submit the RFP application for consideration by clicking on the “Register” button within the form.

To know more about the application process, evaluation parameters and co-funding possibilities Click here. 

In case of any queries, please write to contact@indiahealthfund.org

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About India Health Fund
India Health Fund (IHF), established by Tata Trusts in 2017 with support from The Global Fund, accelerates efforts to eliminate infectious diseases. It bridges funding, mentorship, and market access gaps for innovative solutions. IHF also fosters scalable business models, partnerships, and financing mechanisms for impact at scale.

About ACT Grants
ACT is a non-profit venture philanthropy platform launched in 2020 to drive social impact through entrepreneurship, technology, and collective action. It brings together VCs, startup founders, NGOs, donors, and policymakers to catalyze change. ACT For Health supports innovations in primary care, diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis, and mental health.

About IPE Global
IPE Global is an Indian development sector organization driving inclusive growth and resilience through human development and good governance. Aligned with the SDGs, it provides expertise in health, education, economic development, climate change, and more. Partnering with governments, global donors, and philanthropies, it has implemented 1100+ projects across 100+ countries over 25 years.

About IKP Knowledge Park
IKP Knowledge Park (IKP) is a 200-acre Science Park and incubator in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, fostering innovation in healthcare, biotech, and technology. It has supported 1900+ companies globally, 90% of which are startups. Since 2011, IKP has led grant programs with partners like BMGF, USAID, and BIRAC to advance high-impact innovations.