There are about 140 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Mozambique. 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.
TB remains the foremost infectious disease killer globally. A startling statistic is that two out of every five TB cases globally (40%) remain undiagnosed and untreated. These 'missed' or undiagnosed cases are disproportionately concentrated in large peri-urban 'slums' and informal settlements of large cities in Africa and Asia (they are frequently minimally symptomatic but remain infectious). The lack of a sensitive low cost same-day test represented a major challenge to active community-based case finding (ACF) compared to the current model where patients 'self-seek' care (passive case finding). More recently, sensitive TB DNA-detection tests called Gene Xpert (Xpert) have become available. This is a nucleic acid amplification test-based technology which can rule-in a diagnosis of TB in two thirds of smear negative pulmonary TB cases. GeneXpert® has now been rolled out in many African countries and is the frontline TB test in primary care clinics in South Africa. The investigators recently showed that GeneXpert® significantly reduced the time to treatment initiation in the setting of passive case finding (elaborated in next section). The investigators further showed that GeneXpert® can be performed by a minimally trained healthcare worker. However, historically technical and logistical demands meant that the GeneXpert® MTB-RIF assay was not ideally suited to use at point of care and in South Africa it is still centrally located. Small portable battery-operated versions of these tests are now available (EDGE, GeneXpert two-module mobile platform). The investigators conducted a large study in South Africa and Zimbabwe (published in 2016) that showed that using the old non-portable version of Xpert on a mini-truck equipped with a generator was feasible and highly effective for ACF. A subsequent study funded by the American government (XACT II), showed that using the portable version of Xpert on the back of a small low-cost scalable panel van (in effect a mobile mini-clinic) was feasible and had a very high pick-up rate of TB in peri-urban communities (~10% of those undergoing targeted screening). In this study, the investigators will test the hypothesis that community-based active case finding (ACF) using Gene Xpert Edge (in a low cost scalable mini-mobile clinic) performed at point-of-care (POC) is feasible and more effective (lower proportion of TB cases failing to initiate treatment especially if they are 'super-spreaders' i.e. highly infectious) than Xpert performed in a centralised laboratory.
TB-Speed HIV is a prospective multicentre management study evaluating the safety and feasibility of the recently proposed PAANTHER TB treatment decision algorithm for HIV-infected children with presumptive TB. It will be conducted in four countries with high and very high TB (Tuberculosis) incidence (Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda, Mozambique, and Zambia) which have not participated in the study that developed the PAATHER algorithm.
As undiagnosed and untreated hypertension is one of the largest drivers of cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa approaches are needed to optimize the hypertension care cascade. The HIV treatment platform in low and middle income countries provides a robust, scalable foundation to address other chronic care priorities, such as hypertension. This proposal will evaluate an evidence-based intervention designed to improve chronic care services (the Systems Analysis and Improvement Approach (SAIA)) for hypertension detection and management in people living with HIV, and will build evidence on how to achieve rapid, sustainable and scalable improvements in services that can dramatically improve population health in resource-limited countries.
The TB-Speed Decentralisation study aims to increase childhood Tuberculosis (TB) case detection at district hospital (DH) and Primary health Care (PHC) levels using adapted and child-friendly specimen collection methods, i.e. Nasopharyngeal Aspirate (NPA) and stool samples, sensitive microbiological detection tests (Ultra) close to the point-of-care (Omni/G1(Edge)), reinforced training on clinical diagnosis, and standardized CXR quality and interpretation using digital radiography. The TB-Speed Decentralisation study will evaluate the impact of an innovative patient care level diagnostic approach deployed at DH and PHC levels, namely the DH focused and the PHC focused decentralization strategies. This is aimed at, improving case detection in 6 high TB incidence in low/moderate resource countries: Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, and compare effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the two different decentralization approaches. The hypothesis is that, in countries with high and very high TB incidence (100-299 and ≥300 cases/100,000 population/year, respectively), a systematic approach to the screening for and diagnosis of TB in sick children presenting to the health system will increase childhood TB case detection, especially PTB, which represents the majority of the disease burden (>75% of case)(40). The study also hypothesizes that sputum collection using battery-operated suction machines and microbiological TB diagnosis using Omni/G1 (Edge) can be decentralized to PHC level, thus enabling TB diagnosis and treatment in children at PHC level.
Hazardous drinking (HD) is a major public health burden worldwide with significant morbidity and mortality. To reduce HD, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends using Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment (SBIRT). Mobile health technology (mHealth), such as the mSBIRT app, is a promising tool for widespread cost-effective delivery of evidence-based HDS by community health workers (CHWs) because of its potential to increase fidelity, effectiveness, and sustainability. Community I-STAR Mozambique comprises three phases: 1) mSBIRT adaptation, 2) a cluster-randomized trial, and 3) scale-up of the most cost-effective intervention. Community I-STAR Mozambique will scale-up a cost effective, sustainable program and inform policy applicable to Mozambique and other LMICs.
Global mental health (MH) and substance use disorders prevention, treatment and research gaps require that efficacious treatments be scaled-up, leveraging existing platforms. In tandem, participation of Ministries ready to apply evidence-inform policies must sustain them over time. PRIDE SSA may generate templates for other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by conducting a state of the art scale up study in Mozambique and by establishing a collaborative research network of nascent research "Seed Teams." Such "Seed Teams," trained by the capacity building component, may work across the region to build capacity and conduct implementation research to sustainably scale-up MH services. Scale Up Research (Mozambique) in MH and substance use disorders will evaluate strategies and costs of scaling up an innovative, integrated, sustainable, stepped-care community approach. The scale up study will leverage: (1) Mozambique's task-shifting strategy of training psychiatric technicians (PsyTs) to provide MH care, (2) the WHO-funded epilepsy community care program successfully implemented in 5 Provinces, now primed for scale-up by the Health Ministry. The cost-effective approach redefines work roles without requiring new human resources. Importantly, it comports with the Health Ministry's plan to implement prevention and treatment for all MH conditions, rather than single disorders. The model employs evidence-based practices (EBPs; e.g. Psychopharmacology; Interpersonal Therapy), already in use by PsyTs to: a) establish a sustainable program delivered and supervised by non-MH professionals, overseen by MH specialists; b) provide community screening, care and/or referrals for all MH disorders; and c) use implementation tools to monitor sustainability. This collaborative network will scale-up a cost-effective, sustainable program and inform policy.
STRONG-HF is a multicenter, randomized, parallel group study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of up-titration of standard oral heart failure medications during hospitalization for acute heart failure. Patients admitted for acute heart failure will be randomized within 2 days before discharge to either usual care or intensification of treatment with a beta-blocker, a renin-angiotensin system blocker, and a mineralocorticoid receptor blocker ("high intensity care" arm). In the "high intensity care" arm, patients' clinical signs and symptoms of heart failure will be assessed, and routine laboratory measures and biomarkers will be measured, at frequent post-discharge visits. When these measures indicate that it is safe to do so, the doses of the oral heart failure medications will be increased to optimal levels. Patients will be followed through 180 days from randomization. Patients assigned to the usual care group will be followed by their general physician and/or cardiologist according to local medical standards. Patients who were screened but did not meet eligibility criteria will be followed for 90-day outcome. Randomized patients will be contacted at 180 days to assess outcomes.
This is a controlled cohort study to assess the effect of improved sanitation on oral rotavirus vaccine performance in low-income urban neighbourhoods of Maputo, Mozambique. The specific hypotheses are that: (1) access to improved sanitation is associated with increased oral rotavirus vaccine immunogenicity; (2) enteric infection concurrent to oral rotavirus vaccination is associated with reduced oral rotavirus vaccine immunogenicity; and (3) Environmental Enteric Dysfunction is associated with reduced oral rotavirus vaccine immunogenicity. Pregnant women will be enrolled from the intervention and control arms of a previous sanitation trial (NCT02362932) post-intervention and will be enrolled at no later than eight months' gestation and then followed to 4 months of age of the infant. Blood samples and faeces will be taken from the infant at the time of administration of the first dose of the oral rotavirus vaccine and four weeks after the second dose of the vaccine. The primary outcome of interest in the study is oral rotavirus vaccine immunogenicity among participating vaccinated infants. Seroconversion is defined as a ≥ fourfold rise in serum anti-rotavirus IgA titers between first dose of oral RV vaccine and 4 weeks (+/- 1 week) after second dose of oral RV vaccine. Enteric infections are defined as the presence of ≥ 1 of the following enteric infections in stool: adenovirus 40/41, rotavirus A, norovirus GI/GII, Salmonella spp. (including serovars Typhi and Paratyphi), Campylobacter spp. (C. jejuni, C. coli, C. lari), Shigella spp. (S. boydii, S. sonnei, S. flexneri, S. dysenteriae), Clostridium difficile Toxin A/B, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) LT/ST, E. coli O157, Shiga-like toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) stx1/stx2, Yersinia enterocolitica, Vibrio cholerae, Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, and Cryptosporidium spp. (C. parvum, C. hominis). Environmental Enteric Dysfunction is measured via a combined disease activity score including faecal markers of intestinal inflammation and permeability: neopterin, α-1 antitrypsin, and myeloperoxidase in stool.
The purpose of the study is to assess the long-term safety profile of Ad26.ZEBOV and MVA-BN-Filo in participants previously exposed to these vaccines in Phase 1, 2, or 3 clinical studies.
A multi-centre, randomized, placebo controlled, trial. Participants at high-risk for vascular events from the network of INTER- CHF will be randomized to inactivated influenza vaccine or placebo and followed prospectively over three influenza seasons. 5,000 participants will be enrolled prior to influenza season, randomized to either influenza vaccine or saline placebo, either of which they will receive annually for three years and then followed over each of the influenza seasons.