There are about 266 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Malawi. 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.
The ongoing Malaria Vaccine Pilot Evaluation (MVPE) is being conducted in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya through community and sentinel hospital surveillance systems and a series of household surveys (to measure vaccine coverage). The Malaria Vaccine Pilot Evaluation-Case Control (MVPE-CC) registered here as observational study is embedded within MVPE comprising case-control studies of clinical and mortality outcomes. Each case will require four controls, and caregiver informed consent will be required prior to study activities. These observational case control studies will measure as complementary information to what is being collected through MVPE: 1. Safety among children who received the malaria vaccine, with focus on cerebral malaria, meningitis and severe malaria 2. The impact of the malaria vaccine on all-cause mortality for boys and girls, AND 3. Promote use of case-control approaches by Expanded Programmes on Immunization (EPI) and malaria control programmes.
A couples-based alcohol-reduction and economic and relationship-strengthening intervention for HIV-affected couples in Malawi.
The purpose of this study is to learn whether having the AMP Study antibody (called VRC01) in a person's body might help their immune system control HIV better, even without HIV medication called antiretroviral therapy or ART, if they get HIV. This study will evaluate the viral and immune system responses in an Analytical Treatment Interruption (ATI), in participants who received VRC01 or placebo and got HIV while enrolled in HVTN 703/HPTN 081 (NCT02568215). Participants in this study will stop taking their HIV medication. They will stay off HIV medication unless and until the HIV levels in their blood show that their immune system is unable to control the HIV or they meet other ART re-start criteria as noted in section "Detailed Description". While they are not taking HIV medication, their HIV levels will be tested frequently, and their health will be monitored closely. This is called an analytical treatment interruption, or an ATI. An ATI is an experimental procedure that is only used in carefully monitored research.
Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) is an inherited disease that makes the body produce red blood cells with abnormal sickle-shaped cells. The sickle-shaped cells are rigid, not flexible and break up easily resulting in anaemia. The abnormal cells also stick to the vessel walls, causing a blockage that slows or stops the flow of blood. When this happens, oxygen cannot reach nearby tissues. The lack of oxygen can cause attacks of sudden, severe pain, called pain crises, stroke or damage to important organs such as the spleen. All of these can lead to death. These attacks can occur without warning and are often started and made worse by infections such as malaria. Therefore, in many countries in Africa where malaria is common, children with SCA are given malaria medicines to prevent the infection. However, many of the medicines do not work effectively, are too difficult to take or they have side effects, resulting in poor adherence. The aim of this study is to find safe, acceptable and effective medicines for malaria prevention in children with SCA in eastern and southern Africa. The investigators propose to conduct a study to find out whether giving weekly doses of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, also called DP, is safe, more effective, acceptable and cost-effective than the current strategy of monthly sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to prevent malaria in children with sickle cell anaemia. Overall, 548 children aged 6 months to 15 years will be chosen randomly to receive either weekly DP or monthly SP for about 18 months. To test if the study medicine is effective, the study will compare the case burden of malaria. The investigators will also monitor every child for any type of illness, blood transfusions and other complications of sickle cell anaemia and admissions to the hospital. In addition, the study will evaluate the impact of DP on the development of resistance by malaria parasites. The study will also include nested safety studies on the effect of DP on the heart. All study participants will receive all the other usual care and treatments, including patient education on home care, and daily penicillin if younger than 5 years. If proven safe and efficacious, chemoprophylaxis with DP may decrease the incidence of malaria in children with SCA, prevent ill-health and deaths, and improve wellbeing.
Malawi is a low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa that has limited resources to address a significant burden of disease-including HIV/AIDS. Additionally, depression is a leading cause of disability in the country but largely remains undiagnosed and untreated. Lack of cost-effective, scalable solutions is a fundamental barrier to expanding depression treatment. Against this backdrop, one major success has been the scale-up of a network of more than 700 HIV clinics, with over half a million patients enrolled in ART. As a chronic care system with dedicated human resources and infrastructure, this presents a strategic platform for integrating depression care, and responds to a robust evidence base outlining the bi-directionality of depression and HIV outcomes. The investigators will evaluate a stepped model of depression care that combines group-based Problem Management Plus (group PM+) with antidepressant therapy (ADT) for 420 adults with moderate/severe depression in Neno District, Malawi, as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Rollout will follow a stepped-wedge cluster randomized design in which 14 health facilities are randomized to implement the model in five steps over a 15-month period. Primary outcomes (depression symptoms, functional impairment, and overall health) and secondary outcomes (e.g. HIV: viral load, ART adherence; diabetes: A1C levels, treatment adherence; hypertension: systolic blood pressure, treatment adherence) will be measured every three months through 12-month follow-up. The investigators will also evaluate the model's cost-effectiveness, quantified as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) compared to baseline chronic care services in the absence of the intervention model. This study will conduct a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial to compare the effects of an evidence-based depression care model versus usual care on depression symptom remediation as well as physical health outcomes for chronic care conditions. The investigators will also look at the indirect effects of the intervention at the household level. The investigators' hypothesis is that the intervention will be effective at reducing depression symptoms, improving physical health, and improving household members' wellbeing, compare to treatment as usual. The investigators also hypothesize that the intervention will be highly cost-effective, meaning that the cost per QALY gained will be less than Malawi's median GDP per capita. If determined to be effective and cost-effective, this study will provide a model for integrating depression care into HIV clinics in additional districts of Malawi and other low-resource settings with high HIV prevalence.
A multicentre, international case-control study to develop a biobank of sera from 150 cases of serotype III GBS disease and associated clinical information from seven countries (Malawi, Uganda, UK, the Netherlands, Italy and France), with 3:1 (450) serotype matched healthy controls.
The intervention includes use of transport reimbursement for men who will undergo voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), intensified health education by a VMMC mobilizer and a male and female VMMC champion; use of a cell phone short messaging service (SMS) and/or telephonic tracing to remind clients of their VMMC appointment and and provision of transport reimbursements to men who will undergo VMMC (the RIT intervention). The investigators will assess the uptake of VMMC, and acceptability and feasibility of the RIT intervention among uncircumcised men attending a STI clinic. This intervention was initially designed to include escorting men interested in circumcision from the STI clinic to a VMMC clinic co-located in the same facility. However, the VMMC clinic space was repurposed to a COVID-19 isolation unit therefore clinic escorts were excluded. In Lieu of clinic escorts, participants will be linked to the nearest health facility of their choice where VMMC services are provided by the VMMC mobilizer. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact of using transport reimbursement, intensified health education, cell phone tracing and clinic escort in increasing the uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision at this clinic.
The purpose of this study will be to assess the feasibility and the preliminary efficacy of brief behavior change counseling on lifestyle among diabetic and hypertensive patients
This is a prospective observational cohort study of 2820 patients on first-line ART switching to a DTG-based first-line regimen, according to the standard of care. The study is conducted in Malawi and Zambia, in ART programs that participate in the IeDEA collaboration. Sequencing will be done on blood samples of patients with a viral load above 400 copies/mL to identify mutations.
The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and efficacy of first-line, risk-stratified Rituximab-based Multicentric Castleman Disease (MCD) treatment in Malawi in a single-arm, phase II clinical trial. This study also aims to compare the cost-effectiveness of first-line Rituximab treatment for MCD in Malawi to chemotherapy.