Posted 15/01/2021. Yellow Fever is a re-emerging disease whose incidence has increased globally in the last three decades. Although very successful, the stocks of the YF vaccine are often insufficient. Derick Kimathi, George Warimwe and colleagues assessed the immunogenicity and safety of fractional (1/5th) doses. Our results support fractional dosing of all four WHO-prequalified YF vaccines in general adult population as a dose-sparing strategy.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 03/07/2020. Under declining malaria transmission on the Kenyan coast Kilifi, Alice Kamau, Bob Snow and colleagues show that children continue to bear the brunt of mild and severe disease. There was no significant malaria disease or mortality burden in adults. This is contrary to current modelled approaches to malaria disease burden among African adults.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 31/10/2020. Existing neonatal prognostic models are suited for advanced care settings; however, they use parameters that are not available in low-resource settings. Jalemba Aluvaala and colleagues demonstrate that two novel models - NETS and SENSS - using basic routine data can accurately predict in-hospital mortality which may allow us to better understand neonatal mortality.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 09/10/2020. Children with severe anaemia are more likely to get bacterial infections. Kelvin Mokaya, Sarah Atkinson and colleagues discuss how severe anaemia interferes with iron regulation, and how this promotes bacterial growth in blood and dampens immune responses to these bacteria. The authors also suggest possible studies that can be used to explore their hypothesis.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 29/09/2020. In a collaborative effort to investigate the mechanism of protection conferred by the rare Dantu blood group variant, found at highest frequency in East Africa, Silvia Kariuki and colleagues found a strong correlation between red blood cell membrane tension and parasite invasion ability. Increased membrane tension led to resistance to parasite invasion, and Dantu red blood cells had higher average membrane tension, meaning that a greater proportion resisted invasion. The findings from this study could inform the design of drugs that imitate this increased membrane tension to prevent or treat malaria.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 18/08/2020. In November 2018 twenty-nine participants, representing 21 institutions from 11 countries, participated in a first international \u201cschool engagement\u201d workshop hosted by the KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. Alun Davies and colleagues report on the broad range of goals and approaches for engagement between health researchers and school students.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 17/07/2020. In this editorial, Sam Kinyanjui and colleagues argue that establishing science preparedness, which is an integral component of emergency preparedness, should be embedded within long-term investment in research capacity. They illustrate how African-led research capacity building consortia including IDeAL have contributed to Africa\u2019s preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 30/06/2020. Interferon-gamma (IFN-g) is upregulated during malaria infection and influences erythropoiesis and iron status. Kelvin Mokaya, Sarah Atkinson and colleagues found that children carrying the IFNG+2200C allele, a variant previously associated with higher IFN-g levels, had a modestly increased risk of anaemia and iron deficiency after the malaria season. Larger studies are needed to validate this finding.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 23/06/2020. As the COVID-19 global pandemic escalates in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), locally tailored responses addressing socio-economic and health inequities are essential. Edwine Barasa, Sassy Molyneux and colleagues offer five key considerations grounded in principles of social justice to inform decision making, and call for countries to act together, in cooperation, to build resilience.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 19/06/2020. The true burden of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa remains challenging to measure. In Africa, there is increasing use of routine surveillance data to define national strategic targets, estimate malaria case burdens and measure control progress to identify financing priorities. Victor Alegana and colleagues address some of the challenges and prospects related to using routine data which equally apply to other disease surveillance.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 15/06/2020. Iron deficiency and malaria are common among African children and studies suggest that iron may be critical for the development of humoral immunity. Sarah Atkinson and colleagues found that in 1,794 community-based children in Kenya and Uganda, iron-deficiency was associated with lower levels of P. falciparum-specific antibodies even after adjusting for malaria exposure.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 21/05/2020. HIV-1 transmission patterns within and between risk groups (men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, female sex workers, and heterosexuals) in Kenya are not well understood. Based on 658 HIV-1 pol sequences, George Makau, Eduard Sanders and colleagues showed that 85% of transmission clusters was within risk groups, whereas 15% was shared between risk groups.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 07/05/2020. Information on malaria burden should progressively be based on empirical data rather than models. Alice Kamau and colleagues show that although, in many locations, both local surveillance data and modelled estimates showed declines in malaria burden, there was weak association where stalling in progress or resurgence of malaria burden was observed empirically.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 24/03/2020. This study by Morris Ogero and colleagues was based on over 50,000 patients from 13 referral hospitals in Kenya. Results suggest that >85% of admissions are conducted by pre-registration clinicians who are under experiential training. Although clinical assessment was according to guidelines, there was a major challenge in classification of illness severity leading to overuse of treatment.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 25/06/2019. As investments in health research capacity strengthening (HRCS) consortia increase, it is essential to consider the role of management approaches used. Nadia Tagoe and colleagues present current evidence and discourse on HRCS consortium management, and show that it is critical to pay attention to both relational and operational aspects of consortia to achieve desired outcomes.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 28/02/2020. Estimating the burden of iron deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa is challenging because infections influence iron biomarkers. After correcting for the effects of malaria and inflammation on iron biomarkers, Sarah Atkinson and colleagues show that over half of children are iron deficient and transferrin saturation may more accurately estimate the burden of iron deficiency in African children.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 25/02/2020. The effects of health worker strikes vary depending on strike duration, alternative healthcare available and responses adopted by management. Most strike-related research has focussed on ethical issues and impacts on mortality. Dennis Waithaka, Nancy Kagwanja, Sassy Molyneux and colleagues explore the experience of health managers and community members during two prolonged strike periods, lasting 250 days.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 14/02/2020. The delineation of disease-specific hospital catchments is important to identify populations marginalized from health services, but rarely investigated. Victor Alegana and colleagues set out to estimate the extent of malaria catchments and investigate hospitalisation for two severe malaria syndromes in children. Results suggest distinct geographic catchment for malaria and a reduced rate of hospitalisation outside of this catchment. These findings are useful in identifying communities where very sick children may require emergency care.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 21/01/2020. Naomi Muinga and colleagues report on challenges and the progress made in implementing digital health systems in Kenyan public hospitals. Their focus is on systems used primarily for financial management but are also being used for clinical services. They show that the available infrastructure needs to be strengthened to achieve the full benefits of electronic systems.
\n \n\n \n \nPosted 29/11/2019. In this systematic review and meta-analysis of African studies, Sarah Atkinson and colleagues show that vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in many African populations. About one in five individuals living in Africa have vitamin D deficiency (<30 nmol/L), with newborns, women, urban residents and populations from northern and southern Africa being at higher risk.
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