The initiative “Soap bubbles against coronavirus” is at the starting blocks. In the coming days, the team of local volunteers in Sierra Leone will visit 8 orphanages in the rural area near the capital Freetown. The children in these orphanages, as well as their caregivers, will be provided with supplies and instructions for properly washing their hands, in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in these vulnerable communities, including covid-19.
Author: Dario Scaramuzzi
Soap bubbles against coronavirus
Orphanages in low and middle income countries (LMICs) are particularly vulnerable to epidemics. In order to protect the hosted children from Covid-19, the local team of volunteers from R-Evolution Worldwide will visit some orphanages in the rural area of Freetown (capital of Sierra Leone, West Africa), to provide furnishings, materials, instructions and practical examples to improve hygienic prophylaxis against infectious diseases such as Covid-19. The initiative aims to involve children in the form of a game and for this reason it is called “Soap bubbles against coronavirus”. The intervention will start in the next few days and will be conducted under the supervision of the Government of Sierra Leone (Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender & Children’s Affairs).
Response to Covid-19 in Africa
The impact of Covid-19 in Africa is a ticking bomb on which the European Union (EDCTP) intervenes by supporting research projects. In response to this, a consortium of African and European universities and research institutes developed the ITAIL-COVID-19 project, aimed at implementation of novel and integrated laboratory testing approaches as a strategy against the spread of SARS-COV-2 in the Republic of Congo.
AfriNEXT
AfriNEXT project aims to develop and promote a vibrant, strong and sustainable research culture Africa. The project will create a critical mass of African world-class researchers capable of carrying out high quality research on local health priorities with a strong emphasis on maternal and child health. It is a great pleasure to collaborate with research and academic hubs of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, lead by Prof. Seni Kouanda.
Neglected Tropical Diseases research project in Benin and Togo
R-Evolution Worldwide had the exciting opportunity to collaborate with a great team of rappresentatives from the Ministries of Health of Benin and Togo in the research project proposal: “Impact of self-care groups on stigma among Leprosy and Buruli ulcer patients in Benin and Togo”. Thank you to all the team, lead by Dr. Yves Thierry Barogui.
SUPER
The SUPER project will provide capacity building at the regulatory and ethics level for National Regulatory Authority, National and Institutional Ethics Committees, with the ultimate goal to strengthen an environement favourable for the clinical research addressing the burden of diseases in the Eastern African region. The project is coordinated by EACCR, the Network of Excellence in clinical research for Eastern African region, lead by Dr. Pontiano Kaleebu.
ImproViTB
With 1 million new cases and 200,000 children dead each year, Tuberculosis (TB) is now the leading cause of death from infectious diseases for children of all ages globally (UNICEF). ImproViTB is among the first pediatric clinical studies in the Central African region aimed at improving the clinical outcome and quality of life of children with pulmonary tuberculosis through a standard antituberculosis treatment supplemented with vitamin D.
This project is lead by a consortium of research institutions and universities from 4 Central African countries (Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Gabon) and 3 European countries, coordinated by CANTAM (Prof. Francine Ntoumi), the Network of Excellence in clinical research for Central African region.
SEARCH
SEARCH (SouthErn Africa Regulatory for Clinical researcH) is a consortium of Southern African countries (Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana) and European Union, aimed to increase the capacity of the National Regulatory Authorities to oversight clinical trials for new, safer and more effective medicines to treat the diseases affecting the Southern African region. The consortium is coordinated by TESA, the Network of Excellence in clinical research for Southern African region, lead by Dr. Eusebio Macete.
INTEGRATION+
INTEGRATION+ is an implementation research focused on malaria in pregnancy, with the potential to change national health prevention policies to protect an additional 13 million pregnant women each year from malaria. A consortium of universities and research institutions from 6 African countries and 2 European countries applied to fund this project to European Commission (EDCTP) and USA (PMI).
AfriEthique
A European-African partnership aimed at improving the ethics and regulatory capacity of clinical research in Central African countries has successfully proposed its project (AfriHetique) to the European Commission (EDCTP). The partnership is coordinated by CANTAM, the Network of Excellence in clinical research for Central African region, lead by Prof. Francine Ntoumi.