Photo: USAID Africa Bureau / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
For the twenty-six years of the Global Fund’s existence, migrant populations have been its most consistently underserved constituency. National TB programme grants are built around national registration systems — and migrants, who frequently fall outside those systems, are invisible to the funding they generate. A new dedicated window, announced in September 2026, is designed to close that gap.
- USD 180 million — first dedicated Global Fund migrant TB window
- 12–20 grants expected in first round (USD 3–25M each)
- January 2027 concept note deadline
- Eastern Europe and Central Asia named as priority geographies
The window carries an initial allocation of USD 180 million over three years — structured as grants of between USD 3 million and USD 25 million per approved programme, depending on the size of the target population and the country income classification. The Fund has stated that it expects to approve between 12 and 20 grants in the first round.
Eligibility criteria are deliberately designed to address the barriers that have historically excluded migrant populations from TB funding. Applications must demonstrate: a clearly defined migrant or displaced target population supported by a needs assessment; service delivery mechanisms that do not require identity documents or fixed-address registration; linkage to national TB programmes to ensure treatment continuity; and a data collection approach that enables disaggregation by migration status — the exact gap identified by the IOM’s 2026 World Migration Report.
Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are identified in the Fund’s guidance as priority geographies, given elevated TB rates and the volume of labour migration flows. Georgia, with a TB incidence still classified as moderate by WHO, and significant cross-border migration activity in both directions, is a plausible applicant — either through the Ministry of Health or through a consortium led by an NGO with proven migrant health programming capacity.
PHIG brings relevant experience to this opportunity. As a former Global Fund Technical Review Panel member, PHIG has reviewed grant applications across multiple cycles and understands both what the Fund is looking for and what the most common failure modes are. PHIG is available to support regional ministries of health, NGOs and academic institutions in developing applications for the January 2027 deadline.
The window also signals a broader shift in the Fund’s strategic direction — towards a recognition that the populations it was designed to serve are increasingly mobile, and that funding architectures built around national registration systems are no longer adequate.
Source: Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Grant Opportunity Announcement, September 2026. globalfund.org
Professor, David Tvildiani Medical University | Chair, Public Health Institute of Georgia | Founder, Accréditation Sans Frontières
