BRIGHT Network is delighted to announce the awards of the 2026/2027 BRIGHT Grant Call. Out of 34 proposals submitted, five outstanding projects were selected for funding. The awarded proposals are listed below.

1. Toward Context-Specific Solutions in Maternal and Infant Nutrition

Principal Investigator: Mr. Pradip Lamsal

Organization: Helping Hands Community Hospital, Nepal

Site Location: Nepal

Project Overview:

Micronutrients at the Last Mile: A Pilot Assessment of Pharmaceutical Systems Barriers to Maternal and Infant Nutrition in Rasuwa District, Nepal’s Kerung Border Corridor examines why nationally mandated maternal and infant micronutrient supplements fail to reliably reach high-altitude primary health care populations in Nepal. Using a 12-month convergent mixed-methods design, the study will audit supplement availability, stockouts, storage conditions, cold-chain integrity, affordability, and dispensing capacity across all 12 PHC facilities in Rasuwa District. It will also conduct exit interviews, health worker assessments, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions with pregnant women, mothers, frontline workers, and district health actors. The project further explores locally available traditional foods as complementary strategies during supplement stockouts and co-develops a practical PHC Nutrition Improvement Checklist for field testing and potential replication in other high-altitude border districts.

2. Building Climate-Resilient Maternal and Child Health Systems

Principal Investigator: Mr. Kassa Mamo Negash

Organization: Debre Berhan University, Ethiopia

Location: Ethiopia

Project Overview:

Heat, Pregnancy, and Resilience in Ethiopia (HePRE) examines how ambient heat exposure affects maternal and newborn health outcomes and identifies protective factors that help pregnant women adapt to heat-related risks. The study asks whether higher heat exposure is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preeclampsia, preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth, and whether resilience factors moderate these risks. A central innovation is the development and validation of a context-specific Heat Resilience Score, capturing hydration practices, rest behaviors, housing conditions, workload, social support, and heat-related knowledge. Using a mixed-methods design, the study will combine quantitative analyses of heat exposure and pregnancy outcomes with qualitative interviews on women’s lived experiences, coping strategies, and barriers to adaptation. Multilevel regression models will assess associations while adjusting for maternal, socioeconomic, and antenatal care factors, and interaction analyses will test whether resilience reduces heat-related harm. Findings will inform the co-design of a low-cost Heat Resilience Toolkit for Health Extension Workers to strengthen climate-resilient maternal care in Ethiopia.

3. Mobile Phone Use and Domestic Violence: Evidence and Mechanisms

Principal Investigator: Ms. Mildred Irene Neumbe

Organization: Busitema University, Uganda

Location: Uganda

Project Overview:

Examining the Relationship Between Mobile Phone Use and Domestic Violence Among Married Men in Eastern Uganda investigates whether and how mobile phone use is associated with domestic violence among married men in Mbale City and Butebo District. The study asks whether mobile phone ownership, access, and patterns of use are linked to emotional, physical, or sexual violence within marriage, and whether these relationships are mediated by gender norms, partner surveillance, economic tension, or perceived shifts in household authority. Using a cross-sectional analytical design, the project will recruit 1,400 married men aged 18–59 through multi-stage sampling and collect data through structured interviewer-administered questionnaires using Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing. Descriptive analysis, bivariate tests, multivariable logistic regression, and Structural Equation Modeling will be used to estimate associations and explore mediating pathways. The study will generate context-specific evidence on the gendered consequences of mobile phone use in Eastern Uganda and inform violence prevention strategies that account for digital technology, masculinity, and household power relations.

4. Strengthening Community Health Worker Capacity for Elderly Care in LMICs

Principal Investigator: Mr. Derara Girma Tufa

Organization: Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Ethiopia

Location: Ethiopia

Project Overview:

From Capacity Gaps to Scalable Solutions: Implementing Hybrid Realist-Informed Frameworks to Strengthen Success and Sustainability of Health Extension Workers’ Capacity for Elderly Care in Ethiopia examines how Ethiopia’s Health Extension Worker system can be adapted to deliver age-responsive, sustainable elderly care. The study addresses a critical implementation gap: although Health Extension Workers form the backbone of primary health care, their current training and service packages provide limited preparation for screening, counselling, referral, and follow-up for older adults. Using a mixed-methods implementation study across selected rural and urban sites in Oromia and Sidama, the project will combine quantitative capacity assessment, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and stakeholder co-design. Guided by CFIR, COM, RE-AIM, and WHO’s ICOPE framework, the study will identify implementation barriers, assess Health Extension Worker readiness, co-design and pilot a practical elderly-care package, and evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and scalability. Expected outputs include a context-tested elderly-care toolkit, implementation evidence for integrating elderly care into Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program, and policy recommendations for scalable PHC-based elderly care in low-resource settings.

5. Improving Access to Innovative Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Tuberculosis in Primary Health Care

Principal Investigator: Mr. Celso Khosa

Organization: INS (instituto nacional de saúde), national health institute of Mozambique

Location: Mozambique

Project Overview:

Strengthening Decentralized Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Mozambique through Pre-Implementation Research examines how portable molecular diagnostic technologies can be integrated into Mozambique’s tuberculosis diagnostic system to improve timely detection and treatment initiation. The study addresses a critical implementation gap: although molecular testing is increasingly prioritized for TB diagnosis, peripheral health facilities often face constraints in workflow design, staff training, supply chain reliability, specimen referral, quality assurance, and alignment with national diagnostic algorithms. Led by the Instituto Nacional de Saúde in collaboration with the National Tuberculosis Control Program, the project will conduct a pre-implementation study to generate context-specific evidence for national scale-up under the Global Fund GC8 grant. The study will assess current diagnostic pathways, identify facility-level operational requirements, develop and pilot training approaches for laboratory and frontline health workers, and map technical, logistical, and implementation risks. Expected outputs include an evidence-informed implementation plan, standardized training materials, risk mitigation recommendations, and practical guidance for integrating decentralized molecular TB testing into Mozambique’s primary health care and laboratory systems.

Congratulations to all 2026/2027 BRIGHT Grant awardees. We look forward to supporting their work over the coming year!