There are about 76 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Haiti. 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.
Vancomycin, a tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotic, was originally indicated for the treatment of penicillin-resistant S. Aureus. It has a bactericidal action, inhibiting the biosynthesis of the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria. Various studies have reported the application of intraoperative vancomycin powder to the wound prior to wound closure as a method of antibiotic prophylaxis. Intrasite administration of the drug should theoretically minimize rapid absorption into the systemic circulation, thereby reducing drug-associated side effects. The precipitated concentration gradient between the local wound and the scaffold should also reduce the occurrence of drug resistance. In Haiti, monitoring patients post-operatively is often difficult. The Mortality, Morbidity and Use of Services Survey (EMMUS-VI 2016-2017) reports that the non-use of a health facility is motivated in 58% of cases by the excessively high economic cost of care. Also, SSIs represent a challenge for clinicians. The best solution to the consequences of SSI in this context is prevention. In the present study, the investigator tested the hypothesis that the use of vancomycin powder in the surgical wound would decrease the occurrence of SSI.
The investigators are conducting an unblinded pilot randomized control trial of 250 persons living with HIV (PLWH), aged 18-65 years, who receive antiretroviral therapy care at Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO), are virally suppressed, and have pre-hypertension (systolic blood pressure (SBP) 120-139 or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) 80-89 mmHg) to be randomized to early hypertension (HTN) treatment versus standard of care (SOC). Participants will be recruited from GHESKIO's HIV clinic. Eligible individuals will complete informed consent and be randomized to early HTN treatment vs. SOC. Participants in early HTN treatment will initiate amlodipine immediately versus those in SOC will initiate amlodipine only if they meet the HTN threshold (SBP ≥140 or DBP ≥90 mmHg) during the study period. All participants will be followed for 12 months.
The primary objective: To study the prevalence, etiology, and factors associated with the severity of peritonitis and its complications in the surgery department of the State University Hospital of Haiti. Secondary objectives: - Identify epidemiological characteristics. - Describe the main etiologies encountered in the service - Measure the time required for treatment and its consequences on the evolution of peritonitis.
Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are a group of parasitic worms that infect millions of children in sub-tropical and tropical countries, resulting in malnutrition, growth stunting, intellectual retardation and cognitive deficits. To control the morbidity due to these worms, school-based deworming programs are implemented, in which anthelminthic drugs are administered to children without prior diagnosis. The continued fight against these worms is aided by the London declaration on neglected tropical diseases, which helps sustain and expand global drug donation program, resulting in an unprecedented growth of deworming programs. However, the high degree of drug pressure makes deworming programs vulnerable to the development of anthelmintic resistance because they only rely on one drug with sometimes suboptimal efficacy and there is no availability of alternative drugs. Moreover, at present, there is no surveillance system to monitor the emergence and spread of anthelmintic resistance. It remains unclear to what extent the efficacy of drugs may have dropped and whether anthelmintic resistance is already present. This project aims to strengthen the monitoring and surveillance of drug efficacy and anthelmintic resistance in STH programs. As such, it will support deworming programs in their quest to eliminate STHs as a public health problem. The overall aim of this study is to pilot a surveillance system to assess anthelmintic drug efficacy and the emergence of AR in 9 countries were drug pressure has been high over a long period of time. The specific objectives are to: 1. Assess the prevalence of moderate/heavy intensity infections of the different STH 2. Assess the drug efficacy of a single dose of BZ drugs against STH infections in these countries 3. Assess the frequency of the ß-tubulin SNPs linked to BZ resistance 4. Identify implementation-related barriers and opportunities for monitoring drug efficacy and AR in national PC programs for STH. 5. Expand the Starworms repository of STH field samples
The researchers traveled to University Hospital Mirebalais in Haiti and provided a one week long laparoscopic training and simulation course to the 7 OBGYN faculty there. The researchers used novel checklists to help the faculty to set up for laparoscopic cases and care for the equipment needed. The researchers then asked the physicians their opinion of the checklists.
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/lamivudine/dolutegravir (TLD) is being used more widely across the world to treat HIV. This is an observational study (a type of study in which participants are observed and certain outcomes are measured). The aim of this study is to observe how successful TLD is at treating HIV, in the following groups of people: - People switching to TLD, after taking anti-HIV medication that contains a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) drug (such as Efavirenz or Nevirapine) (Group 1). - People switching to TLD, after taking anti-HIV medication that contains a boosted protease inhibitor (PI) drug (such as Lopinavir or Atazanavir) (Group 2). - People taking TLD and receiving medication for TB that includes the drug rifampicin (RIF) (Group 3). These people must be starting one or both of these medications when they enter the study. - People starting TLD who have not taken anti-HIV medication before (Group 4). Another goal of this study is to use genetic testing of the virus (HIV) to see how often HIV is resistant to TLD. Genetic testing of the virus is one way to see if the TLD medication is not working to treat a person's HIV infection.
Children in resource-limited settings who develop illness at night are often isolated from pre-emergency care, resulting in progression to an emergency because families are forced to wait until morning to seek care. This is especially true in Haiti based on needs assessments (INACT Part 1; INACT1) surrounding access to healthcare. This study (INACT Part 2; INACT2) seeks to improve access to care by establishing a health hotline (healthline) and mobile pharmacy for families with children who become ill at nighttime. The healthline will be staffed by medical professionals and will provide phone based assessment and treatment recommendations based on standard of care practices according to Haitian and WHO guidelines. The healthline will focus on pre-emergency patients (those without danger signs as defined by WHO guidelines). Emergent patients will be advised to bypass the healthline and seek immediate care at the nearest medical facility. In the event that a non-emergent patient requires access to basic medications or fluids and is logistically accessible, the mobile pharmacy service will be offered. The specific aims of the study are as follows: Aim I. Evaluate congruence between healthline assessment over the phone and in-person assessment of participants (patients using the healthline) 10 years of age and younger. The investigators hypothesize that in-person assessments based on WHO guidelines will be discordant with those made by the healthline because the physical aspects of the call-center assessment will be performed by an untrained parent/ guardian. The study focuses on acute diarrheal disease (ADD) and acute respiratory illness (ARI) but is not exclusive to these two chief complaints. Aim II: Identify determinants that correlate with seeking care at a medical facility over the 8-12 day follow up period after the initial call. The findings from this study will determine if a healthline model is a safe and accurate method of providing high quality access to nighttime healthcare, averting the progression of non-emergent cases to emergencies.
In the proposed R34 grant, the investigators will develop and test a strategy of immediate fast-track care. The study population will include adult patients with early HIV infection. Participants will be randomized to immediate fast-track or standard (deferred fast-track) care. All participants will receive same-day HIV testing and ART initiation prior to study enrollment. The intervention group will receive immediate fast-track care, which is conditional upon timely visits, and after 24 weeks in care, an undetectable viral load (HIV-1 RNA <200 copies/ml). The standard group will be eligible to start fast-track care at 24 weeks, if they are on time for that visit and have an undetectable viral load. Participants in either group who are >3 days late for any fast-track visit will lose fast-track care for that visit; those in either group with detectable viremia on their 24-week viral load test will be evaluated by a physician, with follow-up visits every 4 weeks until they have an undetectable viral load. Participants will be followed for 48 weeks. With the proposed pilot study, the investigators aim to conduct the formative work that is necessary to successfully implement a future clinical trial with the same primary outcome. The investigators hypothesize that immediate fast-track care will result in higher retention with viral suppression.
This study will assess the impact of 2-drug (DA) or 3-drug (IDA) regimens on lymphatic filariasis infection parameters in communities. Parameters measured will include: circulating filarial antigenemia (CFA) assessed with the Filariasis Test Strip (FTS), antifilarial antibodies tested with plasma and microfilaremia (assessed by night blood smears and microscopy).
An observational study of long-term outcomes of HIV-1 infection in persons who become infected after enrollment in HIV-1 vaccine trials