There are about 68 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Guinea-Bissau. 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.
Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in children is challenging in low and middle-income countries where access to TB culture and X-ray is limited. More than half cases of childhood TB remain undiagnosed every year. A delay in TB diagnosis can lead to an increase in preventable morbidity and mortality. This study aims to provide evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra in stools and urine for TB diagnosis in children.
Diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in children is particularly challenging in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and a high number of children remain undiagnosed and untreated. A delay in diagnosis can lead to an increase in preventable morbidity and mortality. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a bedside, non-invasive, inexpensive imaging tool, and TB-focused POCUS has been used and validated for adults with HIV. This study aims to describe the TB-focused POCUS findings for children with presumptive TB aged between 6 months and 15 years old, and to stratify the results per HIV, nutritional status and age. This is a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) multicentric study which takes place in Guinea Bissau and South Sudan.
Objective: to measure the effectiveness and safety of (artemether-lumefantrine) AL and (dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine) DP in patients (> 6 months) suffering from uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. Patients coming to Bandim Health Center will, if accepting, be randomised to study-arm. Medication will be provided and first dose given. Patients will be followed-up on day 7, 14, 28, and 42 with clinical evaluation, malaria film and filter-paper blood-sample for polumerase chain reaction (PCR) on re-appearing parasites. On day 21 and 35 a telephone-interview will be performed. Primary out-come: adequate clinical and parasitological response rate on day 42. Secondary out-comes: safety, re-infection vs recrudescence, and haemoglobin on day 42.
Background: Worldwide, more than 50 million children under 5 years of age are wasted (weight-for-length/height Z-score (WLZ) <-2) and over 150 million children under 5 are stunted (length/height-for-age Z-score (LAZ) <-2); such wasting and stunting often begin during infancy.1 Optimal nutrition can prevent wasting and stunting. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is widely recommended by community health workers, doctors and nurses and provides optimal nutrition for most infants. However, early growth faltering is common for infants in low and middle income countries (LMIC) and can both increase an infant's risk of early mortality and also lead to deficits in attained height and weight throughout childhood. Thus research is needed to determine the most efficacious strategy to promote healthy early growth in LMIC. Objective: The proposed study will test the efficacy of early small-volume supplementation (ESVS) for increasing weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) at 1 month of age. Methodology: The PRIMES pilot (Study 3) will be a randomized clinical trial enrolling infants in Guinea-Bissau and Uganda weighing ≥2000g at birth. Infants weighing 2000-2499g at <6 hours of age (n=144; 72 per site) will be randomized on enrollment to one of two groups: 1) Early Small-Volume Supplementation (ESVS intervention group), which consists of up to 59 mL formula administered daily after breastfeeding through 30 days of age followed by EBF through 6 months of age; or 2) frequent exclusive breastfeeding without any food or fluid other than vitamins, minerals and medications (control) through 6 months of age. Infants weighing 2500-3300g at <6 hours of age will be weighed again at 4 days of age; those weighing <2600g at 4 days of age (n=180; 90 per site) will be randomized to the same intervention and control groups. Weight will be measured on all enrolled babies at birth on Day 1 and at 4, 14, 30, 60 and 180 days of age and additional measures including height, MUAC, skinfolds, and hemoglobin will be assessed at other time points. The study's primary outcome will be WAZ at 1 month of age. Secondary outcomes will include WLZ at 1 month of age; WAZ, WLZ and LAZ through 6 months of age; breastfeeding duration and infant intestinal microbiota.
The COVID-19 pandemic challenges available hospital capacity. Strategies to protect health care workers (HCW) are desperately needed. Bacille Calmette- Guérin (BCG) has protective non-specific effects against other infections; a plausible immunological mechanism has been identified in terms of "trained innate immunity". The primary objective of the study is to evaluate whether BCG can reduce unplanned absenteeism due to illness among HCW during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary objectives are to reduce the number of HCW that are infected with COVID-19, reduce hospital admissions for HCW and to improve the capacity for clinical research. Design: Single-blind, parallel-group placebo-controlled multi-centre block randomized trial including a total of 1050 HCW. The study sites will be the Manhiça hospital in Mozambique, Central Hospital Dr. Agostinho Neto and Central Hospital Dr. Baptista de Sousa in Cape Verde and Hospital Nacional Simão Mendes and other hospitals in the capital Bissau in Guinea-Bissau. Population: HCW (nurses/physicians/others) ≥18 years. Intervention: Block randomization 1:1 to intradermal standard dose (0.1 ml) of BCG vaccine or placebo (saline). Endpoints: Primary: Days of unplanned absenteeism due to illness. Secondary: Days of absenteeism because of documented COVID-19; cumulative incidence of infectious disease hospitalizations. Follow-up: mobile phone interviews every second week, regarding symptoms, absenteeism and causes, COVID-19 testing (if done) and their results. Perspectives: If BCG can reduce HCW absenteeism it has global implications. The intervention can quickly be scaled up all over the world.
The trial will be a two-year outcome assessor-blinded RCT at the maternity ward of hospital Simão Mendes (HNSM) in urban Bissau, Guinea-Bissau to compare BCG-Japan versus BCG-Russia 1:1 in 15,000 infants with respect to mortality, morbidity and case-fatality rate during hospital admission. The trial will also examine the association between BCG strains and BCG skin reaction characteristics by six weeks (data collected by telephone) and at two and six months (data collected at home-visits to a subgroup of the cohort). As a secondary aim, this large study will be used to further evaluate the role of maternal BCG immune priming for overall health, since there are indications that maternal BCG scarring enhances the non-specific effects of BCG.
This is a prospective cohort study that will be conducted in four low income countries to describe newborn weight patterns in the first month after birth and their association with clinical and demographic factors including dietary intake.
Background: Investigators at Bandim Health Project (BHP, www.bandim.org) in Guinea-Bissau have shown in several randomized trials that the Bacille-Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) is associated with reduced mortality in the first months of life. BCG is a live attenuated vaccine, which means that it consists of active tuberculosis bacteria that are not capable of infecting a human with TB. BCG has been grown and maintained at many different laboratories all over the world using slightly different laboratory techniques. Due to the accumulation of genetic mutations in the different BCG strains, many variants of the vaccine exists today. These have different properties when it comes to immune response, side effects, protection against TB and scar formation. The BCG scar status after vaccination is a good marker for the non-specific effects of the vaccine; among BCG-vaccinated infants, those with a BCG scar have improved survival. The investigators hypothesize that the different types of BCG vary in terms of the strength of the non-specific effects and thus the impact on overall morbidity and mortality. In the trial, the investigators will compare the two most widely used BCG strains in the world, BCG-Russia and BCG-Japan, with respect to their non-specific effects on morbidity and mortality. As an addition, the investigators will study the effect of maternal BCG vaccination on the subsequent effect of BCG-vaccination in the offspring, since there are indications that the maternal BCG scar status primes for a stronger non-specific response in the offspring.
The Randomized Control Trail included 4,172 low-birth weight children between February 2008 and September 2013 in Bissau. The children who were included in the RCT and who are living in the Bandim Health Project study area will be visited. The study assistants will ask about the health of the child and of both parents. Furthermore, Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) scar status of both child and parents will be checked.
This study is a randomized controlled trial with a main goal to assess the effects of a locally-prepared food for prevention of malnutrition and stunting, in comparison with standard village practices and also a widely available aid food supplement in 8-12 villages in Guinea-Bissau. The supplement intervention will be for 24-30 weeks. The primary outcome will be cognitive tests of executive function. Secondary outcomes will be changes in standard anthropometric benchmarks of growth, hemoglobin and skin carotenoids in young children living in villages in rural Guinea-Bissau. This is a within-village randomization at the level of the family, and all children will receive a dietary intervention.