Tuberculosis Research Advisory Council (TRAC) is a voluntary network of NTP and other relevant MoH Agencies, public research institutions, major national Universities and other key TB stakeholders. TRAC is a core technical advisory body to the Diseases Prevention and Control Directorate (DPCD/NTP) that sets TB research priorities and builds national capacity to conduct TB research.
Over the last 23 years TRAC has been actively engaged in the promotion, conduct and dissemination of operational research in TB control and has been a forum for dialogue and interaction between researchers and NTP staff in Ethiopia.
Since 2001, TRAC made tremendous achievements that has significant contribution for TB elimination endeavors of Ethiopia. 984 TB researches papers presented at Tuberculosis Research Advisory Committee annual conferences, on which;
- World TB Day (WTD) commemorated
- Side meetings held on priority National TB agendas
- Donors re/confirm Commitments
- Increased Number of participants and TB research paper presented
- Best TB research Abstract Award conducted Each year, and
- Invited Guests from Different countries participated.
The following table provides details of the 17 rounds of TRAC annual Conferences held so far.
| Conference | Date | Participants | Papers | Hosting Institutions & Sponsors /Funders | Venue |
| 1st | 24-26/04/2001 | 57 | 30 | AHRI, FMoH | ALERT |
| 2nd | 26-27/08/2004 | 63 | 10 | AHRI (Sida/ NORAD) FMoH | ALERT |
| 3rd | 21-22/11/2006 | 74 | 34 | AHRI, FMoH | ALERT |
| 4th | 16-18/12/2008 | 61 | 17 | AHRI, FMoH JHU and WHO-ET | ALERT |
| 5th | 21-23/10/2009 | 94 | 27 | JU, WHO-ET, GF, TBCAP | JU .Jimma |
| 6th | 6-8/06/2011 | 150 | 45 | UG TBCAP-I, ITECH ,ICAP, FMoH/ GFATM, WHO, etc | UoG, Gondar |
| 7th | 21-24/03/2012 | 347 | 53 | Mekele University and Tigray RHB FMoH/GFATM,WHO, ITECH, TBCARE-I, Heal Tb etc. | Mekele |
| 8th | 21 -24/03/2013 | 489 | 110 | EHNRI and Addis Ababa CAHB FMoH/GFATM,EHNRI, TBCARE-I, PHSP, WHO, Heal TB, UCSD, etc | Addis Ababa |
| 9th | 21-24/03/2014 | 550 | 41 | HU and SNNPR – RHB FMoH/GFATM,EHNRI, TBCARE-I, PHSP, WHO, Heal TB, UCSD, etc | HU, Hawassa |
| 10th | 21 -24/03/2015 | 400 | 53 | ORHB , Arsi University , AHMC, FMoH/GFATM, ORHB, CHTB/KNCV, MSH/HEALTB,GLRA | GAG, Adama |
| 11th | 21-24/03/2016 | 400 | 67 | DDU and DDARH, DD, DD RHB, HU, FMoH, ICAP, GLRA, CTB… | DDU, Dire Dawa & HU, Haramaya |
| 12th | 21-24/03/2017 | 360 | 74 | AAU , St.peter , AA RHB , FMoH , Other partners | AAU, Addis Ababa |
| 13th | 21_24/03/2018 | 600 | 60 | EPHI, AHRI, FMoH, WHO-ET, CDC, CTB | EPHI |
| 14th | 23 -24/03/2019 | 360 | 46 | Afar RHB, SU, GLRA, CTB, CDC, CHAI, AHRI, WHO-ET.. | SMH, Afar |
| 15th | 22-24/03/2021 | 328 | 48 | AHRI,FMoH and AACAHB | EPHI, Addis Ababa |
| 16th | 22 -24/03/2022 | 244 | 39 | Hawassa University and Sidama RHB | HU, Hawassa |
| 17th | 22-24/03/2023 | 330 | 34 | UoG and ARHB | UoG, Gondar |
| 18th | 22-24/03/2024 | TBD | TBD | SPHMMC & AAHB | EPHI |
Twelve rounds of capacity building trainings, on field research methods and epidemiology, provided for 224 Trainees among which 34 of them participated and played a pivotal role in the first TB surveillance in Ethiopia.
Another 3 rounds of extensive training on operational research provided for 53 trainees. In addition to that 17 TB researchers and program managers trained on Impact assessment framework while 13 others provided with systematic review and meta-analysis training.
In 2023 two rounds of capacity building training provided on Tuberculosis Operational research, through the Tuberculosis commitment grant funded by USAID’s TIFA, for 40 regional TB program managers and research fellows.
Thanks for the volunteer members of TRAC the following three research roadmaps has also been issued.
- Roadmap for TB Operational Research in Ethiopia – in March 2013 – (1st Edition).
- National plan for TB Research – in March 2017 – (2nd Edition)
- National TB Research Roadmap 2022-2026 – in March 2022 – (3rd Edition)
