There are about 288 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Zambia. 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.
This proposal tests the efficacy of a phone-based tobacco cessation intervention for people living with HIV (PLWH) in comparison to the standard of care (brief advice to quit) and nicotine replacement therapy (nicotine patches) in Uganda and Zambia. This study will provide insight into the efficacy, feasibility, applicability, and affordability of delivering tobacco cessation interventions through health care professionals at HIV treatment centers in two countries with different tobacco use patterns, policy environments, and health care resources. The previously tested SMS-platform to be used in this study is uniquely positioned to be scaled in low- and middle-income countries worldwide, in which case rigorous research showing even modest success in reducing the prevalence of tobacco consumption among PLWH could confer substantial health and economic benefits.
This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the effectiveness of a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) stepped-care system in reducing unhealthy AOD use among Congolese refugees and the host community in Mantapala, an integrated settlement in northern Zambia.
With the advent of universal eligibility for HIV treatment ("treat all") and same-day and community-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, retention in care after a patient has started ART remains the main challenge to achieving optimal outcomes in HIV treatment programs. Consistently across both time and geography, the highest risk for loss from care is during a patient's first six months after ART initiation, with about quarter of all patients not retained by the end of month 6. One of the reasons for the high attrition from care in this early retention period is that the model of care offered to most newly-initiating and re-initiating patients has barely evolved from its original outlines. Patients in their first six months on ART are generally not eligible for lower-intensity, patient-centered "differentiated service delivery" models that make remaining in care easier for experienced patients. Instead, most early patients must still make multiple clinic visits that include clinical consultations with providers, and most can receive only 1-2 month supplies of medications at a time. This protocol is for the PREFER-Zambia study, an activity of the Retain6 project. Retain6 aims to develop new models of care for patients' first six months on ART. PREFER-Zambia will collect data on patients' characteristics, clinical and non-clinical needs, and preferences for different types of services during their first six months after initiating ART. The investigators will conduct an observational, prospective cohort survey of newly-initiated or re-initiated adult ART patients at a selected set of 12 healthcare facilities in Zambia. Results are expected to inform the design of better models of service delivery for the early treatment period.
With the advent of universal eligibility for HIV treatment ("treat all") and same-day and community-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, retention in care after a patient has started ART remains the main challenge to achieving optimal outcomes in HIV treatment programs. Consistently across both time and geography, the highest risk for loss from care is during a patient's first six months after ART initiation, with about quarter of all patients not retained by the end of month 6. One of the reasons for the high attrition from care in this early retention period is that the model of care offered to most newly-initiating and re-initiating patients has barely evolved from its original outlines. Patients in their first six months on ART are generally not eligible for lower-intensity, patient-centered "differentiated service delivery" models that make remaining in care easier for experienced patients. Instead, most early patients must still make multiple clinic visits that include clinical consultations with providers, and most can receive only 1-2 month supplies of medications at a time. This protocol is for the PREFER-South Africa study, an activity of the Retain6 project. Retain6 aims to develop new models of care for patients' first six months on ART. PREFER-South Africa will collect data on patients' characteristics, clinical and non-clinical needs, and preferences for different types of services during their first six months after initiating ART. The investigators will conduct an observational, prospective cohort survey of newly-initiated or re-initiated adult ART patients at a selected set of 18 healthcare facilities in South Africa. Results are expected to inform the design of better models of service delivery for the early treatment period.
This is a prospective cohort study of women enrolled early in pregnancy, with randomization to determine the timing of three follow-up visits in the second and third trimester. At each of these follow-up visits, investigators will assess gestational age with the FAMLI technology and compare that estimate to the known gestational age established early in pregnancy.
The primary hypothesis is that very preterm infants between 28 0/7 to 31 6/7 weeks with a birth weight from 1000-1999 grams allocated to the HV breastmilk group (200-240 mL/kg/day) until hospital discharge or 40 weeks' post-menstrual age (PMA), whichever comes first, will have increased growth velocity compared to those given UV breastmilk (140-180 mL/kg/day).
Whilst there is an increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide, malnutrition remains common. In addition, malnutrition, overweight, and infections often interact. The consequences of malnutrition after birth are little studied. Severe acute malnutrition in childhood remains common in Africa and Asia and many adult patients with tuberculosis or HIV, diseases which are common in Africa and Asia, may become malnourished. We are interested in diabetes, which in Africa and Asia affects people at younger age and lower weight than in Europe. There is evidence that severe postnatal malnutrition increases the risk of later diabetes but the evidence is piecemeal and there is little information as to the mechanisms involved. It is thus difficult to determine what treatments or preventative strategies are appropriate. We wish to focus on the pancreas which is a key organ in digestion and metabolic processes, especially in relation to diabetes. We will investigate pancreas size, microscopic structure, hormone and digestive enzyme production, and the body's response to these hormones among groups of people in Tanzania, Zambia, India and the Philippines. These groups have participated in the research team's previous studies of malnutrition and were malnourished before birth, as children, or as adults. They now live in places with a wide range of access to foods high in fat and sugar which could affect their risk of diabetes. We will compare their pancreas function to that of never-malnourished controls at each site. We will use advanced statistical methods to understand the links between early malnutrition and later diabetes, taking into account the factors often associated with diabetes such as age, current overweight and infection. Even if we find no important link between early malnutrition and later diabetes, the research will lead to improved understanding of the long-term consequences of malnutrition and the presentation and underlying metabolism of diabetes in Africa and Asia. Thus, the project will lead to improved health care for both malnourished and diabetic people.
This study will evaluate the impact of Family Connections, a family-based group intervention for adolescents and young adults (AYA) living with HIV and their family caregivers, on AYA viral status. The intervention seeks to increase social and family support and decrease self-stigma among AYA, so they may improve their medication adherence and achieve an undetectable viral load. Findings will fill a critical gap in available evidence-based intervention options for improving the HIV-related outcomes and wellbeing of HIV-positive AYA in sub-Saharan Africa.
Tuberculosis (TB) is now the commonest cause of death in many African countries. Globally, ~35% (almost 1 in 3) of TB cases are 'missed' (remain undiagnosed or undetected). In sub-Saharan Africa, 40-50% of the TB case burden remains undiagnosed within the community. These 'missed' TB cases (at primary care level) serve as a reservoir, which severely undermines TB control. With rapid advances in the development of TB screening tests, the investigators aim to determine the pragmatic utility of computer-assisted x-ray diagnosis (CAD). Recent data suggest that CAD performs on par with experienced radiologists to identify potential TB cases, hereby reducing the frequency at which Xpert tests are requested and helps to focus limited resources on the relevant cases. In addition, the investigators aim to test nascent screening technologies for TB diagnosis such as evaluating urine-based TB screening biosignatures. The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged African peri-urban communities where TB is also common. With the pressing need to improve screening and diagnosis of COVID-19, the investigators plan to explore the potential for urine- and blood-based COVID-19 screening assays. Symptoms of COVID-19 and TB overlap, and limited affordability, as well as the stigma associated with both diseases, severely limits testing. Data are now urgently needed about the feasibility of co-screening and testing for TB and COVID-19. The utility of such an approach, if any, has not been studied in African communities.
The purpose of this study is to conduct a multi-country, multi-site, epidemiologic study designed to assess the proportion of interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) positivity, at site level, and to build capacity to conduct a future TB vaccine efficacy study.