Contract No. GHS-I-00-03-00032-00

7200 Wisconsin Avenue

Suite 600

Bethesda, MD 20814

Phone: 301 941 8609

Fax: 301 941 8427

tb-tasc2@urc-chs.com

mgebremedhin@urc-chs.com

nkak@urc-chs.com

www.urc-chs.com

University Research Co., LLC (URC), a Stop TB coalition partner, has worked on TB issues in numerous countries, including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Niger, Russia, and South Africa to design or improve the following: TB case management practices, including identification, screening, treatment, and follow-up of patients; integration of TB guidelines with HIV and other high priority clinical services; cross-referral strategies for HIV/TB; DOTS expansion through piloting innovations and rapid scale up; TB management support systems; TB training methodologies to enhance provider compliance; laboratory diagnostic and quality assurance; rational use of first line drugs; surveillance, monitoring and evaluation systems; policy development and regulation; public-private partnerships; community-based support and outreach for TB; health education, awareness, and advocacy; health facility assessments and operations research. URC’s collaborating partners bring many of the same types of expertise and experiences as well as in-depth country knowledge from NIS, Latin America, and Asia to this team. The URC partnership also brings expertise in setting up programs to deal with MDR TB as well as in conducting financial and economic analysis of the TB disease and estimating the costs of delivering services. 

URC has developed computer-based training materials for improving provider competencies. Recently, URC conducted a day-long training workshop on improvement methodologies at the 34th IUATLD Conference held in Paris. We are actively involved in developing TB “communities of practice” at local and international levels. 

We offer a highly experienced organizational team that can provide strategic leadership to country programs in resource constrained settings. The team includes partners such as The Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research (CTR), Doctors of the World (DOW), Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), Liverpool Associates in Tropical Health (LATH), the RISE TB Clinic at Brown University Medical School, World Vision, and the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) that has developed and successfully used the collaborative approach to improving TB and MDR TB in resource-poor settings. For specific TASC 2 TB orders, we plan to draw from these and other international and local resource groups that can add value to the TB programs to improve health outcomes. Moreover, URC has managed a large number of multi-year and multi-setting health programs over the past 35 years. Under TASC 1 and other IQC mechanisms, URC has fielded short-term and long-term technical assistance teams, and as a result we have been able to contribute to strengthening the health systems, resulting in improved health outcomes.

URC and its partners are ready to provide high caliber, devoted, and exceedingly qualified short- and long- term staff to address the needs of USAID TB programs worldwide. Our global network of experts in DOTS implementation will meet the challenges in the demands of TB service delivery. We will provide support at policy and operational levels to ensure that quality services are widely accessible, particularly to the poorer segments of the population. URC will promote the use of a balanced set of indicators to measure programmatic success. These measures will include indicators covering health outcomes, provider and patient compliance, as well as efficiency.