Rapid Response Funds

EGHI is offering Rapid Response Funds to faculty to conduct urgent, short-term, and multidisciplinary global health research or programmatic work. This program allows faculty to receive grant funding through an expedited process. Awards will be given to those responding to a critical global health need that will ultimately lead to external funding and improvement in individual or population health through sustainable and multidisciplinary partnerships. Proposals should focus on innovation and high impact, are accepted at any time, and will be awarded on a rolling basis. Grants will be awarded up to $10k for a time period of up to 12 months.

To learn more about this opportunity and apply, download our full Rapid Response Funds Guide here. There is no deadline. We will accept and consider applications at any time.

Previous Rapid Response Seed Funds

  • FACULTY NAME: HASSAN, SARIA (SOM)
  • PERIOD:  April 1, 2022 - April 1, 2023 
  • AMOUNT:  $10,000 
  • TEAM:  Uriel Kitron (ECAS); Vanio Mugabe, Guilherme de Sousa Ribeiro, Eduardo Samo Goudo  
  • COUNTRY: Mozambique 
  • PARTNERS: Universidade Licungo, QueLimane/Mozambique Faculdadede Ciencia se Technologia; Faculdade Medicinada Bahia, Universidade Federalda Bahia Instituto Gonzalo Moniz, Fundaco Oswaldo Cruz; Instituto Nacionalde Saudede Mozambique 
  • PURPOSE: To develop tools that will reduce morbidity and mortality following natural disasters in Mozambique by strengthening disaster preparedness and response systems with focus on post-disaster health impacts.  
  • SIGNIFICANCE:  Disaster preparedness and response is understudied in LMICs; and there is a lack of evidence-based strategies to reduce the health impacts of natural disasters in LMICs. Natural disasters and extreme weather events will be more frequent as a result of climate change. Weaker health systems in LMICs contribute to LMICs suffering disproportionate health impacts as a result of climate change. 


  • FACULTY NAME: JAIN, MANOJ (RSPH)  
  • PERIOD: April 1, 2022 - April 1, 2023 
  • AMOUNT: $10,000 
  • TEAM: Salil Bhargava (MGM Medical College Indore), Raman Arora 
  • COUNTRY: India 
  • PARTNERS: Collaboration for the Elimination of TB (CETI), Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), WHO 
  • PURPOSE: To address the problem of low notification in India by providing Notification Campaign 2-month training using the PDSA quality improvement process guided by CETI and Emory University.  
  • SIGNIFICANCE: Covid has had a devastating impact on the TB-free efforts of the Government of India (GOI). TB notifications have been reduced by 30%-50% in the initial stage of the pandemic and failed to achieve the 2.4 million annual TB notification target for 2021. There is an urgent need to boost TB Notification, especially post-Covid.  

  • FACULTY NAME: KANCHERLA, VIJAYA (RSPH)                 
  • PERIOD: April 1, 2022 - April 1, 2023 
  • AMOUNT: $10,000 
  • TEAM: John Cranmer (SON), Godfrey Oakley (RSPH), Abebe Gobezayehu (SON) 
  • COUNTRY: Ethiopia 
  • PARTNERS: Amhara Regional Health Bureau, Ethiopia (ARHB;) ReachAnother Foundation; Emory-Ethiopia: Amhara Region & Country Office; ICL Lab Ethiopia, National Office & Bahir Dar Offices 
  • PURPOSE: To provide folic acid-fortified iodized salt to households to see if it will result in neural tube defect-preventing folate  levels through testing levels, assessing salt intake, and interviews. 
  • SIGNIFICANCE:  NTD prevalence in Ethiopia is over 25-times greater compared to countries with FA fortification. NTDs are third most common congenital disorders in Ethiopia. 2019Ethiopian National Micronutrient Surveyshowed very high prevalence of folatedeficiency among WRA. Proposed study would be the first known study to examine a novel, highly feasible FA-salt fortification mechanism for iodized salt, and its impact on serum folate levels to prevent NTDs. 


  • FACULTY NAME: THOMPSON, LISA (SON)   
  • PERIOD: April 1, 2022 - April 1, 2023
  • AMOUNT: $10,000
  • TEAM: Eri Saikawa (ECAS), Mayari Hengstermann 
  • COUNTRY: Guatemala 
  • PARTNERS:Universidad del Valle de Guatemala 
  • PURPOSE:To refine a 12-week curriculum on plastic waste management in rural Guatemala. The aim is to develop community-driven strategies to refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle plastic and create alternatives to burning plastic as a method of household waste disposal. 
  • SIGNIFICANCE:  There are no educational materials that provide low-literacy rural households in Spanish or English with achievable solutions to reduce plastic waste burning. Will expand the reach to other low-resources countries beyond Guatemala. Will expect school educators, environmental groups, and governmental institutions working with rural communities in the global South to use these materials. 

Covid-19 and Slum Housing Improvement in Brazil, led by Dr. Natália Salgado Bueno, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Emory College. This project aims to examine the consequences of housing quality intervention in Brazilian slums during the Covid-19 pandemic.