There are about 93 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Gambia. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
The introduction of one dose of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) into routine immunization schedules in OPV-only using countries as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was planned for completion in 2016. However, due to recent developments in the global IPV supply landscape, the GPEI polio eradication program is facing a critical shortage of the vaccine which is forecast to continue until at least the end of 2017. The shortage means that some countries that have already introduced the vaccine, but which are considered to be relatively low risk (The Gambia included), will be left without adequate supplies and in other countries IPV introduction is being unavoidably delayed. Exacerbating the shortage is the need to reserve IPV for future outbreak responses (OBR). The current OBR protocol recommends that, if a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreak occurs (after the recent global switch from trivalent to bivalent OPV), a large scale IPV campaign will be implemented to increase population immunity to the type 2 poliovirus in an large area surrounding the outbreak as high risk of extending transmission. Due to above, dose-sparing through the administration of intra-dermal (ID) fractional (one fifth - 0.1mL) doses of IPV (fIPV) has become a very important focus and, for planning purposes, there is an urgent need to assess the practical and logistic challenges a country such as The Gambia would face in rapidly undertaking an ID fIPV campaign.
This study aims to determine whether IHAT is non-inferior to ferrous sulphate at correcting iron deficiency and anaemia, and if IHAT does not increase diarrhoea risk in young children living in rural and resource-poor areas of the Gambia. The study hypothesis is that IHAT will eliminate iron deficiency and improve haemoglobin levels in young children without increasing infectious diarrhoea or promoting inflammation in the gut.
Reactive treatment of household contacts of a confirmed malaria case has been shown to reduce infection prevalence since the former as they are at an increased risk of infection. However, implementing this on a programmatic scale poses significant pressure on the health system and may not be sustainable without the active involvement of the recipient community. This study investigates a novel approach to reducing residual malaria transmission that combines the elements of active community involvement in reactive treatment of household contacts of a clinical case reporting at a health facility. The investigators hypothesize that in areas of low transmission (prevalence of infection ≤10%), most asymptomatic carriers are clustered around clinical malaria cases in the same households. Also, targeting individuals sharing a sleeping area with diagnosed malaria case will reduce parasite carriage in the community. This is a cluster-randomized trial where villages in Central and Upper Baddibu, North Bank East Region of The Gambia, are randomized to receive either reactive treatment of household contacts following a confirmed case of malaria or standard care, i.e. treatment of index case only. Formative research into community perception and reaction to self-administered treatment will be used to generate, adapt and evaluate messages that encourage adherence and compliance to treatment. This will be tested in the first year of the implementation, and findings used to develop a final model of messages to be implemented in the second year of the study. The primary outcome is the prevalence of malaria infection, determined by molecular methods, in all age groups at the end of the second intervention year and the incidence of clinical malaria during the transmission season.
This is a proof of concept study that will evaluate the feasibility of a vapor nanobubble technology (MalariSense) for malaria diagnostics. The MalariSense technology will use a highly innovative approach based on the transdermal non-invasive detection of vapor nanobubbles produced by the excitation of malaria-specific hemozoin by safe, low-energy laser pulse. The objectives of this study will be to determine the sensitivity and specificity of MalariSense in diagnosing malaria in malaria suspected cases attending a health facility in The Gambia and to identify factors influencing the diagnostic accuracy of MalariSense
Background: Community based-intervention trials conducted among infants and young children in low- and middle-income countries have found that zinc supplementation of young children (in the form of liquid supplements or dispersible tablets) increases linear growth and weight gain, and reduces the prevalence of diarrhea and respiratory infections, and lowers all-cause mortality. Aside from supplements, additional dietary zinc can also be provided through "home-fortification" of complementary foods with small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS; 20g/d), which are typically formulated as a peanut-based paste enriched with a vitamin and mineral complex containing 8 mg elemental zinc (as ZnSO4). However, the efficacy of LNS as a delivery vehicle for preventive zinc supplementation remains uncertain. Two recent studies, which provided LNS containing 4-10 mg Zn daily for 6-9 months found no significant differences in plasma zinc concentrations at the end of the intervention period compared to placebo. This lack of response may be due to the reduced absorption of zinc when it is part of a complex food matrix and provided with cereal-based meals; both SQ-LNS and cereal grains contain moderate to high concentrations of phytate, the main dietary factor known to substantially reduce zinc absorption. The addition of exogenous phytases is an efficacious strategy to reduce the phytate content of foods, and increase the bioavailability of dietary zinc; however, the efficacy of this approach has not yet been demonstrated for SQ-LNS. Objective: The overall objective of the study is to assess the efficacy of adding exogenous phytase to SQ-LNS by investigating intra-individual differences in the fractional absorption of zinc (FAZ) among children who receive additional dietary zinc (8 mg/d) from SQ-LNS with or without phytase. Trial approach: The study will be a double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial, designed to permit within-child comparisons of zinc absorption from SQ-LNS, with or without exogenous phytase, by using the triple stable-isotope ratio tracer technique. The clinical study will enroll 34 children between the ages of 18-23 months. The main outcome of interest is the intra-individual difference in the FAZ from porridge-based meals containing SQ-LNS with and without phytase. Up to an` additional 36 children will be enrolled in a pilot feeding study to determine portion sizes of study meals. Trial setting: Keneba, The Gambia Trial interventions: The SQ-LNS (20g) used in this study will be provided by Nutriset, S.A.S. The exogenous phytase (DSM phytase Tolerase 20000G) is derived from Aspergillus niger; phytase will be added to the SQ-LNS during the production phase, and will be enzymatically active in vivo at the time of consumption. Feeding Protocol and Study Diet: The study diet for the 2day absorption study will consist of the following: 1) Two stable-isotope labeled test meals per day (porridge made from locally procured non-fermented cereal, mixed with 10 g of SQ-LNS), with children randomized to receive either SQ-LNS with phytase or SQ-LNS without phytase on the first day and the alternative product on the second; 2) One additional standardized meal per day (e.g. rice with sauce); 3) Low-zinc, low-phytate food (e.g. bananas) consumed ad libitum if requested (with the exception of 1 hour before and 2 hours after each test meal). Children will be fed by their caregivers under supervision by a study fieldworker. The SQ-LNS product (without phytase) will be provided to children twice per day for one day prior to the start of the stable isotope absorption studies, in order to habituate children to the study diet and location. Children will attend the study clinic daily for four days and will be enrolled in the study for a total of ten days. Zinc absorption studies: The FAZ of zinc will be measured by a triple-isotope tracer ratio technique, using orally administered extrinsic labels (Zn-67 and Zn-70) and intravenous Zn-68. Urine samples, collected pre- and post-isotope administration (d 1, 5-9) will be analyzed for zinc isotope ratios by ICP-MS. FAZ will be calculated based on the mean isotopic ratios obtained from the enriched urine samples, and based on the tracer:tracee ratio method. TAZ will be calculated by multiplying FAZ by total zinc intake from the test meals. Data Collection: The following information will be collected from each subject: brief medical history; physical examination; weight and height; daily morbidity and pre-intervention blood sampling for hemoglobin, complete blood count and plasma zinc concentration, malaria and systemic inflammation (C-reactive protein and α-1-acid glycoprotein).
At MRC Human Nutrition Research, the investigators have developed an engineered analogue of the ferritin-core for safe and effective iron supplementation. Iron hydroxide adipate tartrate (IHAT) is a tartrate-modified, nano-disperse Fe(III) oxo-hydroxide, formed in an adipate buffer, with similar functional properties and small primary particle size (~2 nm) as the iron found in the ferritin core; it better mimics iron absorption from food than the non-physiological bolus doses of ferrous sulphate currently used. This exploratory study will test the hypothesis that IHAT has equivalent bioavailability to ferrous sulphate but produces a less harmful post-ingestion rise in transferrin saturation. The design is a 3-arm (IDA, non-IDA and IDA-IHAT new manufacture), crossover, randomised, single-dose study. Primary endpoint: Relative bioavailability value of IHAT versus ferrous sulphate. This will be determined from the red blood cell incorporation of isotope-labelled iron 14 days following a single oral dose. Secondary endpoints: Serum iron at 0, 2, 4, 6 hours following a single dose of each iron compound. Transferrin saturation at 0, 2, 4, 6 hours following a single dose of each iron compound. Plasma 58Fe and 57Fe at 0, 2, 4, 6 hours. Pathogen growth using ex vivo assays in serum collected from each subject at 0, 2, 4 and 6 hours following a single dose.
Phase 1/2, Prospective, Single Center, Randomized, ActiveControlled, Double-Blind, Age De-escalation Study to assess the safety and tolerability of SIILPCV10 administered as a single-dose regimen to healthy Gambian pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)-naïve young adults and PCV-primed toddlers through 4 weeks post vaccination. Each adult and toddler subject will undergo a total of 4 clinic visits. Each infant subject will undergo a total of 9 scheduled visits. Blood will be collected from all subjects during the screening visit for safety and potential immunological assessments, and 28 days after completion of the vaccination schedule for immunological assessments. For adults, the vaccine was given intramuscularly into the mid-deltoid muscle of nondominant arm using a 24-gauge needle. For toddlers and infants, the vaccine will be given IM into the anterolateral aspect of the left thigh. Blood will be collected from adults and toddlers for safety labs at the Day 7 post-vaccination visit.
Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) has become an accepted dental restoration treatment in many developing countries. Because, ART is intended to be operated in molars, and about 10% of all carious lesion by an age of 18 years appear in anterior teeth in Gambia, it was the aim of this study to clinically evaluate a modified ART restoration technique for anterior teeth as the traditional treatment approach did not show satisfying clinical results.
The West African Treatment Cohort for Hepatitis B (WATCH) study is a component of the European Commission Funded FP7 project PROLIFICA. It aims to evaluate a number of steps required to successfully treat patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection to prevent cirrhosis and liver cancer. The first step is to determine whether screening for hepatitis B using a point of care test is feasible and effective. The second is to monitor linkage from screening into care. The third is to evaluate cheap non-invasive assessments to determine the need for treatment. The fourth is to determine what proportion of patients meet treatment eligibility criteria. The fifth step is to establish a treatment cohort which can be used to measure adherence to therapy and avoidance of HBV related complications. A parallel untreated cohort will be established to determine whether treatment criteria are relevant in this West African setting by monitoring for complications of HBV infection.
Two vaccines, ChAd63 ME-TRAP and MVA ME-TRAP, are being tested to see if they will form a safe and effective vaccination strategy against malaria. The vaccines have been found to be well tolerated when tested in Gambian adults, young children and infants, who are at risk of severe malaria. Both vaccines will be given to participating infants at the same time as some EPI (Expanded Program on Immunization) vaccines, and assess whether they are safe and still helpful in making the body's defense system respond.