4 February 2026 Articles

New investment brings TB testing closer to communities

GHIT Fund invests USD 1.8 million to support research on the Lung Flute ECO

The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund has announced a new investment of USD 1.8 million (approximately 1.52 million euros) to support research on the Lung Flute ECO (FLUTTE), a simple, low-cost device designed to help address one of the biggest gaps in tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis: collecting sputum samples for testing.

The investment builds on earlier promising results and enables researchers to move beyond proof of concept: testing whether Lung Flute ECO can make a real difference in communities, among children, and in people at high risk of TB.

Why TB diagnosis still misses millions

TB remains the world’s leading infectious disease killer. While recent advances in diagnostics and treatment offer hope for faster progress towards elimination, these innovations can only work if people are able to provide a sample for testing.

When individuals cannot cough up sputum themselves, they remain undiagnosed or are referred for costly and invasive procedures far from home. As a result, an estimated 23% of people who arrive in need of TB testing, cannot access the service.

Sputum scarcity is especially common among older adults, children, health workers, adolescents, people with subclinical TB, and those living with HIV. Sputum scarcity contributes to inequity and delayed diagnoses.

Lung Flute ECO

A low-tech solution to a high-impact problem

Lung Flute ECO is a paperboard tube with a polymer reed that produces low frequency vibrations when a person exhales through it. These gentle vibrations help loosen mucus in the lungs, making it easier to expel sputum for testing.

"In 2023, we showed that Lung Flute ECO could improve TB detection in people with symptoms,” says Ellen Mitchell, public health epidemiologist at ITM and Principal Investigator of the FLUTTE study. “With this new funding, we can now test its performance in communities, in younger children, and in people at high risk. We have partnered with some outstanding researchers and are excited to see whether it works."

We hope these five studies will give us insight into whether the Lung Flute ECO improves access to TB diagnoses and help us to establish enough rigorous evidence for WHO to consider it. If it works well, we will establish local manufacturing so countries can access it at the lowest cost.

Ellen Mitchell
Public health epidemiologist at ITM and Principal Investigator of the FLUTTE study

Partners

The Lung Flute ECO brings together a group of partners with expertise in TB research, product development and implementation.

The Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association (RIT-JATA/Japan), Acoustic Innovations Co., Ltd (Japan), The Aurum Institute (Republic of South Africa and Republic of Mozambique), Stellenbosch University (Republic of South Africa), Instituto Nacional de Saúde (Republic of Mozambique), the World Alliance for Lung and Intensive Care Medicine in Uganda (WALIMU/Republic of Uganda), and University of California San Francisco (United States).

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