1.Human Resource: STDC Delhi developed its full-fledged sections in epidemiological, public health, statistical and administrative wing. The STDC director provides leadership and guidance to opportunities for conducting research. The Epidemiologist at STDC serves as the nodal officer for implementation of research. He is supported by a microbiologist and a biostatistician for monitoring collection and analysis of research data.

2.Capacity Building on OR: The key staff along with STDC Director completed their formal training in research methodology in 1990 and ‘How to do Operational Research?’ in 2005 at National Tuberculosis Institute, Bangalore.

3.Financial Resources: Along with funds earmarked for operational research in State NTEP funds, STDC Delhi shares experience of trying odds with every opportunity to fund its research. In last 10 years, more than 50% of the total researches were funded by State Operational Research Committee. In addition, some research projects are funded by ICMR or external agencies like MRC London, Corporates like Sandoz under corporate social responsibility (CSR).  Funds earmarked for research studies are restricted to use under the same functional component.

4.Infrastructural capacity: Accredited with National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), the Intermediate reference laboratory (IRL) at STDC Delhi is equipped with Biosafety Level-3, Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), second-line Line Probe Assay (LPA) and Liquid culture DST (drug-susceptibility testing) facilities.  These make STDC Delhi a preferred site for research projects meant for multi-centric clinical trials, kit validation or validation of new diagnostic modalities4 in collaboration with RBIPMT (The Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and TB), NITRD (the National Institute of TB and Respiratory diseases) or NIRT (National Institute for research in Tuberculosis, Chennai).

5.Orientation to potential researchers: STDC Delhi regularly conducts orientation workshops for potential researchers (DTO), faculty from various medical and nursing colleges, development agencies and corporate entities to sensitize on potential areas for operational research.  Guidance on research tools to support good quality data collection is circulated.


6.Institutional mechanisms: STDC Delhi has established an institution level 7-member Scientific Advisory Committee, that reviews and finalizes the research proposals to be submitted to Operational research committee on behalf of STDC Delhi.

STDC Delhi has its own Institution Level Ethics Committee4 with members represented from TB Association of India, Delhi TB Association, State level Legal advisor, Community member, STDC itself and chaired by a Medical College faculty. The committee reviews the submitted protocols and provides ethical clearance based on the type of research involved.  


7.Collaboration with State OR mechanism: STDC Delhi remains the focal point for organizing state task force meetings. The State Operational Research committee meets at STDC Delhi regularly to review and finalize the submitted proposals. Hence, any upcoming/ ongoing research is informed to STDC Delhi and priorities for conducting the same is facilitated. The State Task force also advocates for one thesis per medical college in a year to be undertaken by postgraduates.

8.Collaboration with TB Association of India (TAI): The staff of STDC Delhi provides managerial support to TB Association of India. They support the publication of the quarterly journal of TAI as members of editorial board4. Also, the faculty actively participates in annual conferences organized by TAI and supports in finalizing the scientific program and participating in the sessions. This provides an opportunity for STDC Delhi to create more awareness in their staff regarding current priorities of the national program, learnings from other states and dissemination of their research findings.

9.Maintaining a database of research studies: STDC Delhi documents the database (offline & online) of TB related (past and ongoing) research activity conducted in state. It is maintained as a part of the program annual report documented by STDC. It helps in wide dissemination of undergoing projects and provides an opportunity for collaboration, cross-learning or enhancement of research. Details of the research projects taken up in 2022-23 are listed in the annexure.

10.Dissemination of findings: STDC Delhi encourages use of various media to disseminate their research findings to the community at large. Around two-thirds of the total publication (71) is disseminated each through research publication or review article in past 6 years. This helps to keep the team motivated and continue to uptake further research projects.