There are about 249 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Ghana. 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.
Rationale: Iron deficiency and zinc deficiency, are of public health significance in sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 50% of children (5-14 years) in developing countries suffer from anaemia, half of which is estimated iron deficiency anaemia. Interventions have been designed and implemented over the years towards solving hunger and anaemia especially among school age children. One of such interventions is School Feeding Programme (SFP) which is common in both developing and industrialized countries. SFP has been part of the Ghanaian educational system for well over 40 years, albeit on small scale. The main stay of the programme that makes it distinguishable from other past and existing school feeding programmes is its reliance on locally produced and available foods, such as cowpeas. Legume staples like cowpea have been identified to be important sources of protein and non-heme iron to rural populations of developing countries like Ghana. The problem however is the low bioavailability of these micronutrients from these legumes. Objective: To assess the efficacy of iron fortified cowpea based meal (Tubani) in improving iron status of primary school children in rural northern Ghana Study design: A randomized double blind parallel design will be conducted. One group will receive iron fortified Tubani with NaFeEDTA and the other group will receive unfortified Tubani. Study population: Two hundred and forty apparently healthy pupils in lower primary school will participate. The participating schools have a school feeding programme currently in operation. Intervention (if applicable): Children will be fed Tubani containing 10mg of fortification iron (in the form of NaFeEDTA) three times in a week for six months. Weight, height and blood samples will be measured at baseline and after six months of intervention. Participants will be treated against intestinal parasites before start of intervention and halfway through the intervention. Main study parameters/endpoints: The main study endpoint is iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA). IDA will be defined as concurrent anaemia and iron deficiency. Whole blood will be collected for the analysis of Hb, serum ferritin (SF), serum transferring receptor (sTfR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Anemia will be defined as a hemoglobin concentration <115 g/L, and iron deficiency will be defined as an SF concentration <12 µg/L. Venipunctures occasionally lead to bruises or small local inflammation which usually disappear within one week. To minimize this risk, blood collection will be performed by a trained and experienced phlebotomists. Written informed consent will be obtained from all subjects.
The aim of the study is to assess the distribution of the most frequent types of human papillomavirus in African women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer.
The aim of this epidemiology study is to characterize in a standardized way malaria transmission intensity at the clinical trial centers participating in study 110021 (NCT00866619).
Eye drops must be proficiently instilled to prevent infections following cataract surgery. Proficiency is defined as placing a drop on the ocular surface without touching the applicator's tip. Researchers will investigate whether patients can proficiently administer eye drops on the first attempt on the first day after surgeries. If successful, researchers will determine how proficient they are 29 days later. If not, they will be provided with additional educational sessions and tested again 29 days later. Researchers will also determine if the proficiency of instillation correlates to whether patients experience irritation or pain after surgery. Summary Brief Summary Eye drops must be proficiently instilled to prevent infections following cataract surgery. Proficiency is defined as placing a drop on the ocular surface without touching the applicator's tip. Researchers will investigate whether patients can proficiently administer eye drops on the first attempt on the first day after surgeries. If successful, researchers will determine how proficient they are 29 days later. If not, they will be provided with additional educational sessions and tested again 29 days later. Researchers will also determine if the proficiency of instillation correlates to whether patients experience irritation or pain after surgery. Hypotheses: On postoperative day 30, there will be a higher rate of successful eye drop instillation in the group of subjects who receive the educational session compared to the baseline group subjects (subjects only tested on postoperative day 30 rather than both the first day after surgery and postoperative day 30) who will not receive it. In comparing the postoperative day 30 proficiency levels of baseline subjects and subjects who were able to proficiently instill a single eye drop on postoperative day 1, the subjects who were able to proficiently instill a single eye drop on postoperative day 1 will have a higher success rate than the baseline group. The number of subjects who are unable to correctly instill the medication on postoperative day 30 and experienced pain or irritation before or during postoperative day 30 will be higher than the number of subjects who are able to correctly instill the medication on postoperative day 30 and experienced pain or irritation before or during postoperative day 30.
The Millennium Villages Project involves the coordinated and simultaneous delivery of a package of proven interventions in health, agriculture, infrastructure and education. The project works in partnership with governments in 10 African countries in areas where progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals has been insufficient. The Project evaluation will test the following hypotheses: 1. That after 5 years of operation, villages exposed to the MVP intervention will have a lower rate of under-5 mortality and parallel gains in MDG-related secondary outcomes when compared to similar villages not receiving the intervention. 2. That the coordinated delivery a multi-sector package of health and development interventions implemented through a broad-based local partnership is feasible in a diversity of sub-Saharan African contexts, and; 3. The intervention package can be delivered at a scalable cost of $40 per person per year in the health sector and $110 per person per year in total
This study is designed to test the hypothesis that the intramuscular administration of 10 IU of oxytocin in Uniject™ during the third stage of labor by a Community Health Officer (CHO) at home births in Ghana will reduce the risk of postpartum hemorrhage by 50 percent relative to home births attended by the same type of provider who does not provide a uterotonic drug.
The incidence of malaria, including the incidence in pregnant women, is declining in many African countries. Thus, there is a need to re-examine the efficacy and cost effectiveness of giving intermittent preventive treatment with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine in pregnancy (SP-IPTp) on several occasions during pregnancy, an intervention that is threatened by increasing resistance to SP. Possible alternatives to SP-IPTp need to be explored. This applies especially to areas with highly seasonal malaria transmission where women are at risk for only a short period of the year. The goal of this project is to determine whether in pregnant women who sleep under a long lasting insecticide treated bed net, screening and treatment at each scheduled antenatal clinic visit is as effective in protecting them from anaemia, low birth weight and placental infection as SP-IPTp. Primigravidae and secundigravidae who present at antenatal clinics in study sites in four West African countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and The Gambia) will be randomised to one of two groups. All women will be given a long lasting insecticide treated bed net on first presentation at the antenatal clinic. Women in group 1 (reference group) will receive SP-IPTp according to the current WHO guidelines. Those in group 2 will be screened with a rapid diagnostic test at each scheduled antenatal clinic visit and treated if parasitaemic. Approximately 5000 women will be recruited, 2500 in each group. Women will be encouraged to deliver in hospital where maternal haemoglobin and birth weight will be recorded and a placental sample obtained. Those who deliver at home will be visited within a week of delivery and maternal haemoglobin and infant weight recorded. Mothers and infants will be seen again six weeks after delivery. Also at delivery peripheral maternal blood sample will be obtained for the diagnosis of malaria using RDT, microscopy and PCR. The primary end points of the trial will be birth weight and anaemia at 38 weeks (+/-2 weeks) of gestation. The study is powered to show non-inferiority of group 2 compared to group 1. The costs and cost effectiveness of each intervention will be evaluated. In the light of recent evidence suggesting that malaria infection during pregnancy, particularly in the last trimester may influence an infant's risk of malaria, we proposed to follow infants born to mothers recruited in the Navrongo site in Ghana who have received either IST or IPTp in pregnancy throughout the whole of their first year of life beyond the six weeks originally proposed. We have received approval for this from the ethic committees at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana Health Service and Navrongo Health Research Centre. The aim is to obtain information on the incidence of both symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria infections in these infants during follow up of the infants. The study will provide information to national malaria control programmes on whether there are alternative, safe and effective methods to the SP IPTp regimen for reducing the burden of malaria in pregnancy.
Malaria is caused by a germ that people get from the bites of some mosquitoes. It kills over 2 million people each year. Many of the drugs used to treat malaria do not work as well as they used to and researchers are exploring other vaccines to prevent malaria. The purpose of this study is to learn if the vaccine, called EBA-175 RII-NG, is safe and if it strengthens the body's defenses against malaria. Participants will include 60 healthy adults, ages 18-40, recruited from Accra, Ghana. Several dosages of the vaccine will be tested for safety. The lowest dosages of the vaccine will be tested before the next higher dose is tested. There will be two groups for each dose, one group will receive the vaccine and the other group will receive a placebo (salt water solution). Participants may be involved in study related procedures for up to 398 days.
Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are the most prevalent micronutrient deficiencies on a worldwide basis, especially in developing countries. The impact of severe IDA can have mortal consequences, since without adequate hemoglobin, the brain and body become deprived of oxygen and, if allowed to continue, death may ensue. It has been shown that iron supplementation in infants and young children can enhance child development, however, it may also result in increased rates of malaria in high burden areas. The primary objective of this study is to determine the impact of providing encapsulated iron (as a powder added to complementary foods) on the susceptibility to clinical malaria among anemic and non-anemic infants and young children (6-24 months of age) living in a high malaria burden area. The value of performing this research in Ghana is primarily that malaria and anemia remain the most important causes of death and morbidity.
In Ghana, low micronutrient intakes among pregnant women are a major problem. The standard nutritional intervention during pregnancy is iron-folic acid tablets, but adherence is low. The investigators have pioneered the use of multiple micronutrient-fortified semi-solid pastes called Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (LNS) (made using vegetable oil, groundnut, milk, sugar, and micronutrients), and the investigators' previous studies show that the approach could have great potential for use by pregnant and lactating women. This study aims to evaluate the effects of LNS-P&L designed for pregnant and lactating women and LNS-20gM designed for infants. Pregnant women (n=864) randomly selected from ante-natal clinics in Yilo and Manya Krobo districts of Ghana will be randomized to receive daily (a) Group 1: Iron/ Folic Acid tablets during pregnancy, and a tablet containing calcium (Ca) only (akin to a placebo) during lactation (6 mo), (b) Group 2: Multiple Micronutrient tablets during pregnancy and the first six months of lactation, or (c) Group 3: LNS-P&L during pregnancy and lactation, whilst their infants receive LNS-20gM daily from 6 to 18 months. There are two primary outcomes namely: 1. Maternal primary outcome: Birth length 2. Child primary outcome: Child length-for-age z-score at 18 mo. The investigators hypothesize that a) mean birth length and length-for-age at 18 mo will be greater in children whose mothers are in Group 2 than those whose mothers are in Group 1, and b) children whose mothers are in Group 3 will have greater birth length and length-for-age at 18 mo than the children in either of the other two groups.