Contract No. GHS-I-00-03-00033-00

784 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617 250 9500
Fax: 617 250 9090

cwhalen@msh.org

www.msh.org

     Through TASC TB, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) offers a comprehensive package of services and approaches in response to TASC 2 TB requirements. MSH links technical TB assistance for specific DOTS-related interventions with MSH’s broader management and systems expertise, providing USAID with a one-stop resource for TB technical assistance. MSH’s team offers expertise in all aspects of planning, implementing, and evaluating DOTS programs in developing countries, including development of TB norms and standards, rational pharmaceutical management, policy development and advocacy, leadership development, human resource policies and capacity development, decentralization and integration, strengthening laboratory services, quality assurance, performance management and improvement, integration of TB services in primary health care programs, community mobilization, monitoring and supervision, evaluation, cost analyses/financial planning and management, and TB treatment in special groups/settings.

MSH will draw on the expertise in its global and field programs to respond to TASC TB requests. Through its USAID-funded RPM Plus Program, MSH provides global leadership in drug management systems, including exploration into social franchising for prevention of and care for HIV/AIDS and TB patients in sub-Saharan Africa. MSH works with the World Bank and Stop TB Partnership to develop tools to assess barriers to adopting and expanding DOTS, and the use of incentives and enablers for improved case detection and case management. MSH also works with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the USAID-funded TB Coalition, as well as serves on the Stop TB Coordinating Board. 

At the field level, MSH contributes directly to DOTS programs with rapid assessments, participatory workplanning, leadership development, TB drug management, cost analysis and financial management, organizational development, quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation in numerous countries. MSH’s EQUITY Project in South Africa, for example, implemented a TB control program in the Eastern Cape Province.

Our team comprises individuals who represent private sector organizations on the Stop TB Partnership Board of Directors, who have successfully led successful national TB programs, and who provide technical assistance to National Reference Laboratories and local laboratories. 

MSH can also draw on the outstanding international technical and professional organizations who are partners on its TASC 2 TB award: The Academy for Educational Development (AED), the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), Cambridge Consulting Corporation (CCC), Emory University School of Medicine Department of Infectious Diseases, Francis J. Curry National Tuberculosis Center (CNTC), International HIV/AIDS Alliance, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD), National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA), National Tuberculosis Nurse Consultant Coalition, and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease of Fondazione Maugeri in Italy.

MSH’s three decades of experience in managing USAID-funded health projects, including seven TASC orders in the past four years demonstrates capacity in rapid start-up, responsiveness, understanding of USAID procedures, and use of management systems and technical expertise to increase TB program impact. MSH has responded rapidly to major TASC initiatives such as the 3.5-year, $9.5 million Bangladesh Immunization and Other Child Health Project which coordinates with two subcontractors, the Bangladesh government, USAID cooperating agencies, and NGOs. MSH fielded the team (which grew to include over 100 Polio Eradication Facilitators) nine days after the TASC order was awarded. The Contractor Performance Report noted that MSH’s speed “exceeded all USAID expectations.” The report praised the leadership capabilities of key personnel and technical backstopping effectiveness.