A meeting was held in Addis Ababa to review the activities of the Tuberculosis Research Advisory Council (TRAC), including the successful 18th Annual TB Research conference and WTD as well as the completion of the TIFA-TCG project. Prof. Afework Kassu, TRAC Chairperson and Director General of AHRI, commended the council for the success of the annual conference held from March 22-24, 2024. Over 380 local, regional and international participants took part on the scientific conference while more than 450 participated on WTD Commemoration which was held under the theme “YES! We Can END TB”
The Professor announced that the outcomes of the conference will be used to identify policy, advocacy, and research inputs to be submitted to the Ministry of Health and regional health bureaus.
The hosting institutions; St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical college and Addis Ababa City Administration Health Bureau, conference organizing core team and partners were acknowledged for their input in organizing the historic event.
In another milestone for TRAC, the USAID-funded TIFA-TCG project has been successfully completed. The project involved 12 TB operational research projects conducted nationwide, with their results presented during the 18th Tuberculosis Research Annual Conference. Dr. Berhanu Seyom, Senior Scientist at AHRI and Principal Investigator of the project, emphasized that the project facilitated capacity building by training and mentoring 30 regional TB Program implementers and completing 12 priority TB Operational research projects. As part of this project, TRAC also launched an official website with a TB resource center.
Dr. Birhanu expressed gratitude to USAID and the Ethiopia Mission team for the funding support and acknowledged other stakeholders such as regional health bureaus for their engagement in the successful completion of the project. He stressed the importance of sustaining efforts in TB research and innovation, which is a key pillar of the END TB Strategy.
TRAC Members and partners took part on the meeting which was organized by AHRI and the TRAC Secretariat.