BRIGHT Network is delighted to announce the awards of the 2025/2026 BRIGHT Grant Call. This year, we received an exceptional number of applications, reflecting the growing engagement within our community. Out of 106 proposals submitted, five outstanding projects were selected for funding. The awarded proposals are listed below.

Investigating the Consequences of USAID's Suspension of HIV/AIDS Assistance in Tanzania and Uganda: A Multi-Stakeholder Qualitative Study in Uganda and Tanzania

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Shayo

Organization: National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania

Location: Tanzania and Uganda

Project Overview

In 2025, the dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Trump administration led to the abrupt termination of significant global health funding, including HIV/AIDS support through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This qualitative study aims to investigate the immediate and projected long-term consequences of the USAID funding suspension on HIV/AIDS programs in Tanzania and Uganda—two countries heavily reliant on external aid for public health. Employing a multi-stakeholder, exploratory qualitative approach, the study will utilize stakeholder mapping, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and documentary reviews. Participants will include government officials, healthcare providers, donor representatives, civil society actors, and patients affected by the funding cuts. The study seeks to understand stakeholder perceptions, mitigation strategies, and system adaptations while documenting lessons learned to strengthen future health system resilience. Findings will contribute to policy recommendations for sustainable and self-reliant HIV/AIDS programs and examine the evolving roles of alternative donors such as China. Results will be disseminated through stakeholder workshops, peer-reviewed publications, and policy briefs.

Feeding Difference: Investigating the Malnutrition Transition Among Low-Income Families with Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Egypt—A Community-Led Household-Based Study

Principal Investigator: Aliaa Ahmed Shanab

Organization: Kayan Association for Persons with Disabilities, Egypt

Location: Upper Egypt, Egypt

Project Overview

Despite national progress in child health, children with disabilities remain a critically underserved group, often excluded from mainstream nutrition programs. This community-partnered study investigates and compares the nutritional disparities between children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and their neurotypical siblings within low-income Egyptian households. By leveraging a novel intra-household case-control design, this project aims to generate disaggregated, high-resolution data on malnutrition patterns among children with ID—an evidence gap that limits effective policy and intervention design. The study will be conducted in urban and rural areas of Upper Egypt, where both poverty and disability prevalence intersect. This study will adopt a mixed-methods approach, which allows for comprehensive analysis, with paired comparisons controlling for shared environmental and economic conditions. Quantitative data will be analyzed using paired t-tests and multivariate regression models, while qualitative findings will be thematically coded to uncover structural and cultural factors affecting nutrition outcomes.

The study is designed and implemented in collaboration with local disability organizations, ensuring contextual relevance and community ownership. It directly responds to the WHO’s call for disability-inclusive nutrition initiatives and aligns with Egypt’s national priorities for health equity and child development. Expected outputs include actionable insights for practitioners, a policy brief targeting national stakeholders, and a set of scalable, community-informed recommendations for improving nutritional care for children with disabilities. In doing so, the research aspires to contribute to inclusive, evidence-based nutrition programming that addresses the urgent but overlooked intersection of disability and malnutrition in Egypt.

Tracking Superbugs in Uganda: Evaluating Laboratory Capacity for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance and Diagnostic Access in Maternal Health Services at Primary Health Care Settings

Principal Investigator: Kenedy Kiyimba

Organization: Busitema University, Uganda

Location: Eastern Uganda, Uganda

Project Overview

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a rapidly escalating global health threat, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Uganda, where the burden of infectious diseases remains high and access to quality diagnostics is limited. In maternal health, AMR poses a serious risk to both mothers and newborns, contributing to preventable morbidity and mortality from infections such as sepsis, urinary tract infections, and postnatal wound infections. Despite national and global commitments to combat AMR, there is paucity of data on the capacity of primary health care facilities to support AMR surveillance and provide reliable diagnostic services—especially within maternal health programs. This study seeks to evaluate and enhance AMR diagnostic and surveillance capacity in maternal health care at primary health care facilities through assessment, training, community engagement, and implementation of a pilot community-based AMR surveillance system.

This study is among the first in Uganda to focus specifically on AMR surveillance capacity within maternal health services at the primary health care level, bridging a critical data gap by introducing a mobile-enabled reporting system for community healthcare workers that integrates community and facility-level data streams, fostering early detection and timely response to resistant infections in mothers. Customized training modules will enhance frontline health worker skills in AMR diagnostics and antimicrobial stewardship, directly impacting quality of care and antibiotic use, while engagement with stakeholders from community, clinical, and laboratory settings promotes a multidisciplinary approach essential for sustainable AMR containment. The pilot’s findings will provide evidence for scaling up low-resource appropriate AMR surveillance and diagnostic innovations in other LMIC settings.

Comparative Health System Analysis of Access to Essential Medicines in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Overcoming Barriers and Promoting Equity

Principal Investigator: Vetty Yulianty

Organization: Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia

Location: Indonesia

Project Overview

Access to essential medicines is a critical component of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and a fundamental human right. Yet, over 30% of the global population—primarily in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)—lack reliable access to safe, affordable, and quality-assured medicines. Health system limitations such as weak regulation, fragmented procurement, supply chain inefficiencies, and inequitable distribution significantly contribute to this crisis. Regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, face compounded challenges due to dependency on imports, geographic disparities, and systemic inefficiencies. Despite reforms like Indonesia’s national health insurance (JKN), gaps in physical access and medicine availability persist, particularly for vulnerable populations and less prioritized therapeutic areas. This project aims to conduct a comparative health systems analysis to identify and address the structural barriers that limit access to essential medicines in selected LMICs. The study will generate evidence-based policy and implementation recommendations to enhance equitable access, affordability, and quality of essential medicines.

Using a mixed-methods, multi-country approach, the study will integrate secondary quantitative data (from WHO, World Bank, Access to Medicine Index) with primary facility-based surveys and stakeholder interviews. Indonesia will serve as a key focus for primary data collection, capturing variability in medicine access and system performance. Other LMICs will be selected to represent a spectrum of health system capacities and geographic diversity. Findings will be disseminated through academic publications, policy briefs, stakeholder workshops, and open-access platforms to maximize impact and uptake. This research is timely and innovative in applying systems thinking and mixed methods to tackle a persistent global health equity issue. By identifying scalable and sustainable solutions, it aims to support LMICs in strengthening pharmaceutical systems and accelerating progress toward UHC and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Examining Real-World HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Uptake, Willingness, and Adherence among High-Risk Populations in Ethiopia

Principal Investigator: Zewdie Birhanu

Organization: Jimma University, Ethiopia

Location: Oromia, Ethiopia

Project Overview

Despite global HIV prevention progress, Ethiopia continues to bear a high HIV burden, especially among marginalized groups like female sex workers, urban women, and adolescent girls, driven by gender inequality, economic dependence, and limited prevention access. Though HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective, real-world data on its uptake, adherence, and acceptability among these populations remain scarce. This study aims to assess PrEP uptake, adherence, acceptability, and willingness among high-risk populations in Ethiopia, and to identify individual, behavioral, and systemic factors influencing use. The study also aims to review national policies to uncover equity gaps and inform actionable strategies for strengthening PrEP delivery.

This study introduces a novel, context-sensitive approach to improve PrEP uptake, adherence, and willingness among high-risk groups in Ethiopia. Using a mixed-methods design—combining surveys, interviews, and policy reviews—it analyzes individual, social, and systemic barriers. Guided by the Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD) framework, it examines psychosocial and structural factors beyond traditional models. Innovative sampling methods will be adopted to reach stigmatized, hard-to-access populations like sex workers, and people who inject drugs. Culturally grounded narrative and visual tools will help enhance engagement. A co-creation workshop and advisory committee of community members, health workers, and policymakers will guide the study. This integrated, participatory, theory-driven approach is groundbreaking for Ethiopia and offers scalable insights.