Sri Lanka has been nominated by the proposal of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura for a US $ 200,000 World Health Organization (WHO) research assistance for Rapid Antigen testing for COVID detection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a protocol for monitoring SARS-CoV-2, Ag-RDT and called on countries to submit proposals by December 2020. It is selected according to a competitive methodology.
Accordingly, a proposal was made in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Allergy Immunization and Cell Biology Unit (AICBU) under the leadership of Dr. Chandima Jeewandara and Prof. Neelika Malavige.
Following a competitive process of considering these proposals, the proposal submitted by Sri Lanka has been selected for funding. Accordingly, the proposal submitted by AICBU was able to obtain funding and Sri Lanka became one of the five countries selected by the World Health Organization under this scheme.
Through this grant, the World Health Organization will fund a maximum of $ 199,999 for medical faculty research. In addition, up to 200,000 Ag-RDT will be provided to Sri Lanka approved by the World Health Organization.
Dr. Chandima Jeewandara said that since the research required by the Allergy Immunology and Cell Biology Unit of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura is very small, the remaining large quantities of antigen kits will be distributed to hospitals next week.
