TB REACH grantees can also receive smaller grants to develop and package TB resources and tools only. Projects that focus on product development must result in a tangible, packaged product during their TB REACH project cycle, and can thereafter be used by other TB REACH grantees and national TB control programs worldwide.
The idea to enable TB REACH to expand its grant categories to support product development evolved following the success of a one-off investment by TB REACH to support a grantee in Pakistan to develop XpertSMS software, which sends GeneXpert results from testing sites to a server for central monitoring. This software not only addressed a key issue with decentralized use of the new tool, but also highlighted the need for such software to other developers. Today, GeneXpert users have many different software solutions to choose from when they want to address this issue, and this is also increasingly reflected in TB REACH projects.
Possible areas for TB REACH investments can include the development of products for improved IT solutions for wider use and simpler installation of IT-based tools for screening, diagnosis, treatment, and care of TB. Product development grants can likewise be received for development of health worker trainings or patient education materials as well as for designing novel external quality assurance (EQA) systems for diagnostic tools.