Funding aims to boost case-finding
South Africa has launched a rapid funding call to address “bottlenecks” in the country’s Covid-19 testing programme.
The call for applications opened on 13 May and will close on 29 May. It is a collaboration between the Department of Science and Innovation and the South African Medical Research Council’s Strategic Health Innovation Partnerships programme.
The DSI hopes the research will boost the effectiveness of the government’s active case-finding strategy. The funders are looking for the development of local components and kits, reagents, and novel tests for SARS-Cov-2.
The amount of funding will be determined by the successful applications. The SAMRC admits that there is a “substantial demand on funding for Covid-19-related research”, so applicants need to provide substantial co-funding for projects.
South African research organisations, NGOs and small- and medium enterprises may apply.