Toward a Global Framework for TB CARE: Previewing TB-DASH Workshop in Hyderabad

On 22-23 September 2025, global experts, community representatives, and health practitioners will gather in Hyderabad for the first regional convening of Developing a Global Framework to Enhance Demand, Access, and Seeking of TB-related Healthcare Services (TB-DASH). The initiative, led by UCSF Center for Tuberculosis in partnership with Johns Hopkins University and the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute, is focused on strengthening demand and access for TB services by centering the experiences of patients, providers, and communities. The workshop will bring together nearly 30 in-person participants from 11 countries across South and Southeast Asia, along with partners from the United States. 

Ahead of the workshop, we spoke with the project’s co-PIs — Dr. Priya Shete (UCSF) and Dr. David Dowdy (JHU) — about the vision behind TB-DASH, the goals of the Hyderabad convening, and how this collaborative effort can shape a global framework for person-centered TB care.

Could you tell us a bit about the TB-DASH project?
TB-DASH (Developing a Global Framework to Enhance Demand, Access, and Seeking of TB-related Healthcare Services) is a grant awarded to the UCSF Center for Tuberculosis by Johnson & Johnson to facilitate demand for TB innovations among affected communities, front-line health care workers, and national TB programs using implementation science approaches. Using a combination of preference studies and community based participatory action research methods, TB-DASH is developing a Global Framework with evidence-informed strategies to help increase demand and improve quality of care for TB affected people.

Centering the voices of people affected by TB makes the Framework both scientifically rigorous and community-owned.

What will the Hyderabad workshop focus on, and how will it move the project forward?
The workshop aims to engage community representatives, front-line health care workers, and policymakers to contribute to the development of the Global Framework. With their input, we hope to prioritize known barriers to TB care-seeking and access and validate and contextualize implementation strategies that can overcome these barriers. Unlike traditional convenings that focus on abstract discussions of problems in TB service delivery or offer broad solutions, this workshop is hoping to use rigorous community-based participatory approaches and implementation science frameworks to take workshop discussions and translate them into practical, action-oriented, and adaptable strategies that TB programs across the globe can use to improve the uptake of TB services. The workshop in Hyderabad will be the first of several regional convenings to ensure that we include perspectives from communities most affected by TB.

Why is it essential to bring the perspectives of patients, providers, and communities into this process?
By centering the voices and experiences of people affected by TB, we aim to ensure the Global Framework and its accompanying tools are responsive to needs and grounded in the day-to-day realities of patients, providers, and their communities. Our hope is that this collaborative approach helps ensure the final Framework is both scientifically rigorous and community-owned.

Looking ahead, how do you see TB-DASH contributing to global progress against TB?
Our hope is the results and outputs of TB-DASH provide a way forward for all partners, from front-line health care workers to policymakers to affected people, to have evidence-informed and validated options for high impact and feasible tools that they can adapt in their contexts to maximize demand and access to TB services. Looking ahead, we hope this Global Framework will:

• Provide countries with practical tools to address the most pressing, modifiable barriers to TB care.
• Support the adoption of evidence-based strategies that enhance uptake of TB innovations.
• Strengthen global alignment by ensuring that demand generation and access strategies are contextualized, equitable, and scalable.

Mostly, we hope that the work of TB-DASH continues to elevate the importance of actually achieving person-centered care by implementing strategies that deliver care in the way people want and need, based on their preferences.

TB-DASH will provide practical tools and equitable, scalable strategies for truly person-centered TB care.

What lessons from India’s TB response do you see as most valuable for shaping a global framework?
India has been dealing with one of the world’s highest burdens of TB, and has been doing so in a variety of ways — like addressing diverse care pathways, engaging communities meaningfully, providing holistic care, and using data to adapt programs in real time. India’s scale, diversity, and innovations offer insights not only into what works, but also into how to adapt and implement strategies across different contexts — central to the goals of the TB-DASH Framework. We hope to learn from India’s experience and to cultivate dialogue regionally.

How does UCSF’s expertise in TB research and implementation science shape the way you are leading this initiative?
UCSF brings deep expertise in TB research, implementation science, and global partnerships, which positions it well to convene a collaborative and equity-driven initiative like TB-DASH. This project aligns well with our Center’s mission which includes the goal of improving the lives of TB patients worldwide through the acceleration of advances in tuberculosis research practice and policy. TB-DASH builds on UCSF’s longstanding commitment to TB research and partnerships in high-burden countries, and reflects our broader mission to advance health equity through science, collaboration, and community engagement.

How has GKII supported this collaboration and the upcoming workshop?
GKII has been a valuable partner in setting up the logistics of this workshop — including managing all the day-to-day details, ensuring that the right people were brought together, and making sure that the experience was a positive one for everyone. It’s impossible to get good feedback from the right partners unless people feel that the event itself is put together well — and GKII made sure to pay attention to all of the details in making that happen.

TB Free Schools is a flagship GKII initiative, wherein it is working collaboratively with government, civil society, schools, and community members to address pediatric TB among school going children. Supporting this multi-country TB-DASH workshop in India builds on this commitment, enabling us to deepen our understanding and broaden our networks in the fight against TB.

About the Project Leads

Dr. Priya Shete is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at UCSF and Director of Policy, Advocacy and Implementation at UCSF Center for Tuberculosis, with research spanning TB implementation science and social protection across high-burden countries.

Dr. David Dowdy is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at UCSF and Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Implementation at the UCSF Center for Tuberculosis, with research spanning TB implementation science and social protection in high-burden countries.