There are about 340 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.
Background: Clinical guidelines and policies often fail to achieve high levels of delivery of intended clinical interventions. The difference in what investigators know works and what is actually delivered at the clinic-level to patients, is known as the "science-to-service gap." In the realm of tuberculosis (TB) prevention, this gap is reflected in <20% of TB preventive therapy (TPT)-eligible persons living with HIV (PLWH) being offered or initiated on isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) in many settings. Recent innovation in TPT have brought new pharmacological options allowing for shorter courses, intermittent dosing, or both. A 12-dose once-weekly rifapentine and isoniazid (3HP) regimen has been demonstrated to be effective and well tolerated. This regimen has several potential advantages over IPT; however, if patients are never assessed for 3HP eligibility and 3HP is not prescribed, TPT packets will remain on pharmacy shelves and the potential health benefits will not reach those who need it. The overarching goal of this study is to identify a generalizable approach to overcome current barriers to delivery of TPT in order to achieve high levels of TPT delivery during routine care in public clinics. Investigators are proposing a choice architecture that makes prescribing TPT the "default" or standard option and that for TPT not to be prescribed will require a choice by a clinician to "opt-out" of TPT for a specific patient. Methods: Investigators will use a cluster randomized design with the larger IMPAACT4TB (I4TB) program to deliver 3HP to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. A subset of countries and clinics within these I4TB countries will be included with each clinic the unit of randomization. Clinics within study countries will be randomized to one of two strategies: (1) standard implementation within the UNITAID project (clinic training on TPT along with posters and other standard medication material) and (2) choice architecture default TPT. Clinical process data will be used to assess the effectiveness of each strategy to determine the proportion of PLWH (1) screened for TB preventive therapy, (2) eligible for TPT, and (3) prescribed TPT. Significance: Identifying a pragmatic approach will lead the way for improving TPT prescribing across the study sites. It will furthermore contribute to implementation science at large in describing implementation strategies that may be applied to clinic-level implementation of other innovations.
About 1600 children 6 to 24 months old will be enrolled from 8 egg hubs. 4 hubs will be receive social marketing campaign to raise awareness about the benefits of eggs while the other 4 will not receive social marketing campaign. Children will provide a urine sample for analysis of metabolites to correlate with egg consumption.
The purpose of the research study is to collect preliminary data to which future outcomes after implementing quality improvement projects or research will be compared. There will be observation of the labor and delivery services received and resulting outcomes of women and infants who deliver at private health facilities in urban Malawi. Data will be collected at admission, delivery, and discharge from women and providers on patient characteristics, labor and obstetric characteristics, delivery factors, and pregnancy outcomes that result during the course of the hospitalization. This will include the vital status of the mother and the infant. The overall hypothesis is that cesarean birth rates will be higher than the ecologically supported 10% cesarean birth rate, and that there may be cesareans that are performed without clear medical indication.
The purpose of this study is to learn more about the acute response to infection with and recovery from the virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Some people know this virus by the name "coronavirus." It can cause the disease called COVID-19. The information gained from the study can be used to help develop better tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease and may help in developing future vaccines, other prevention strategies, and treatments.
The purpose of this study is to learn more about infection with and recovery from the virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Some people know this virus by the name "coronavirus." It can cause the disease called COVID-19. The information gained from the study will be used to help develop better tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease and may help in developing future vaccines and treatments by allowing researchers to determine the difference between the body's immune response to natural SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunization with a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
This CDC-funded study sought to evaluate the effect of an adapted Community Score Card Approach on maternal retention in ART, maternal retention across the PMTCT service cascade, and the uptake of early infant diagnosis services in Malawi. The study also estimated the cost of the implementation of the Community Score Card Approach.
This study is composed of two parallel, pilot randomized groups that will obtain preliminary data about the the acceptability, fidelity, and clinical outcomes associated with a multi-component adherence support strategy for HIV treatment and prevention among pregnant and breastfeeding women. The study will take place in Lilongwe, Malawi.
To develop a theory-based culturally-grounded storytelling-based intervention to increase cervical cancer screening among Malawian women living with HIV infection. Secondary objectives: To conduct a pilot randomized clinical trial (RCT) to examine the acceptability, feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of narrative intervention on cervical cancer screening prevention behavior.
The purpose of the study is to determine the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of implementing new strategies to screen and treat eligible women for cervical cancer through a cluster randomized trial of two different models. Both models offer the same screening and treatment algorithm, but one will be based in Voluntary Family Planning (VFP) or other clinics and the second will be based in the community. Participants will be recruited from two districts in Malawi with the highest HIV prevalence in the country: Lilongwe in the Central Region and Zomba in the Southern Region.
In many sub-Saharan African countries, the scale-up of lifelong antiretroviral treatment (ART) to all pregnant and breastfeeding women under Option B+ has the potential to radically improve maternal health and reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission. However, loss to HIV care after delivery has emerged as an important threat to the hoped-for impact of Option B+. Evidence suggests that one important contributor to postpartum loss to HIV care is perinatal depression (PND). In non-pregnant HIV-infected populations, depression has been linked to poor ART adherence, reduced engagement in care, and ultimately worse HIV clinical outcomes. Thus, interventions that integrate PND treatment with targeted support for HIV care retention are critical to the success of Option B+. The Friendship Bench is an evidence-based depression counseling intervention delivered by trained, supervised lay health workers. It is proven to reduce depression in the general population in low-resource settings, but has not been adapted to address PND, or enhanced to support engagement in HIV care. The Friendship Bench offers an ideal framework for integrating retention support into a proven depression treatment model. Our long-term goal is to adapt, test, and scale up resource-appropriate interventions to reduce PND and improve engagement in HIV care. The objective of this proposal is to lay the groundwork for an effectiveness trial by adapting the Friendship Bench intervention to address PND and support engagement in care among perinatal HIV-infected women and assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and fidelity of the adapted intervention in Lilongwe, Malawi. In-depth perspectives on PND and its role in engagement in care will be gathered from HIV-infected women with PND, healthcare providers, clinic directors, and Ministry of Health officials using qualitative interviews and focus groups. This formative research will be used to develop an intervention protocol adapted to the unique needs of HIV-infected women during the perinatal period (Adapted Friendship Bench) and further enhanced to support engagement in HIV care (Enhanced Friendship Bench). The Adapted and Enhanced Friendship Bench interventions will be compared to enhanced standard care in a 3-arm pilot study. Feasibility, acceptability, and fidelity will be assessed at 6 months postpartum, along with the interventions' preliminary effectiveness across several mental health and engagement in HIV care measures.