There are about 4 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Somalia. 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.
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is used routinely worldwide as part of infant immunisations to prevent acquisition of Streptococcus pneumoniae, the aetiologic agent responsible for a large proportion of early childhood pneumonia and invasive disease. However, PCV has seen minimal uptake in populations affected by forced displacement and humanitarian crises, where the burden of pneumococcal disease is plausibly elevated. This study seeks to generate evidence on appropriate vaccination strategies for crisis-affected populations. The investigators plan to exhaustively vaccinate children up to 15 years in a camp for displaced persons outside Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. The study will deliver PCV in a campaign modality, so as to achieve both short- and long-term herd immunity effects that, the investigators hypothesise, will reduce population-wide nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae transmission and thereby protect young children from pneumococcal disease. The study will adopt a quasi-experimental design, with baseline and post-intervention surveys to evaluate changes in pneumococcal carriage, complemented by safety assessment in children aged over 2 years, for whom PCV safety data are scarce, and longitudinal data collection on incidence of pneumonia and antibiotic prescriptions in the camp.