Global Health and Infectious Diseases research group at Kumasi Centre of Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR-KNUST) is a multi-disciplinary team with skills and expertise in conducting clinical research (including trial) and field epidemiologic studies within the LMIC context. The group collaborates closely with international, national, and subnational institutions and organizations in both public and private sectors to answer globally relevant research questions, applying scientifically rigorous and innovative methods.

OBJECTIVES

The Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research Group has the following: 1. To enhance the research networking capacity and infrastructure at KCCR and make substantive contributions to the promotion of interdisciplinary collaborative research at KCCR and KNUST by members of the university community, researchers across the country and sub-region, KCCR’s research partners, and the wider international community. 2. To enhance synergies between research, teaching and learning by providing an opportunity for both graduate and undergraduate students to receive insight and practical training in both laboratory and field research. This is expected to generate passion and commitment to research, facilitate the early identification of talent, and provide an opportunity for mentorship and career advancement towards leadership in Global Health and Infectious Disease research and development. 3. To provide knowledge through high quality research which will benefit the global health community by improving the clinical management, control and prevention of infectious diseases, the quality of health service delivery, and ultimately health systems and health outcomes.

STAFFING

The Group is made up of KCCR-based staff, KNUST Vaccine Centre-based staff, KATH-based, Ga East-based staff, Offinso-based staff and Assin Fosu-based staff. The Group also has National Service Personnel and Interns assisting in daily activities. Currently the total members of staff is One Hundred with thirty-nine based at KCCR, eight based at the KNUST Students Clinic (vaccine centre), forty-two based at KATH, six at Ga-East Municipal Hospital and two staff based at Assin-Fosu.

ANTICOV Clinical Trial

The ANTICOV Clinical Trial is an open-label, multicentre randomized, adaptative platform trial of the safety and efficacy of several therapies, including antiviral therapies, versus control in mild / moderate cases of COVID-19’. ANTICOV aims to investigate mild to moderate COVID-19 patients, determine the efficacy and safety of various treatment regimen in preventing the progression to severe disease with need for hospitalization or specialized care. Additional studies will determine the impact of COVID-19 treatment on the type, strength, and duration of the immune responses in SARS-CoV-2 patients in sub-Saharan Africa. The Trial is a multi-country platform involving fourteen (14) African countries. In Ghana the trial is being conducted by KCCR researchers and the study site is the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. The trial is sponsored globally by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), locally in Ghana by the Bernhard Nocht for Institute Tropical Medicine (BNITM).

Funder: UNITAID/BMBF

RECOVERY Clinical Trial

RECOVERY is a randomized control trial among hospitalized adults to investigate the effect of different therapies for COVID-19 disease. The randomized trial among patient hospitalized for COVID-19 is being carried out in two study sites (KATH, Kumasi and GA EAST, Accra). All eligible patients will be randomly allocated between several treatment arms, each to be given in addition to the usual standard of care in the participating hospital.

Funder: Wellcome Trust via Oxford University

SANOFI Vaccine Clinical Trial

VAT00008 trial is a parallel-group, Phase III, multi-stage, modified double-blind, multi-armed study to assess the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of two SARS-CoV-2 Adjuvanted Recombinant Protein Vaccines (monovalent and bivalent) for prevention against COVID-19 in adults 18 years of age and older”. This study is designed to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of monovalent and bivalent SARS-CoV-2 recombinant protein vaccines with AS03 adjuvant in preventing the occurrence of symptomatic COVID-19 with onset at least 14 days after the second injection of the vaccine in SARS-CoV-2 naïve individuals. The study will generate data required for approval of each of the vaccines for use in the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease in adults. The data collected during this study are planned to support future development in other populations (e.g., pediatrics, pregnant women).

Funder: Sanofi

Severe neonatal adaptive platform trials in Africa (SNIP-Africa)

The SNIP-AFRICA is a multi-country multi-centre project that focuses on high-burden, high impact group of inpatient neonates and infants with sepsis. This is a group especially affected by escalating rates of AMR in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) healthcare facilities contributing to much slower than desirable improvements in neonatal mortality across SSA. The project therefore aims to establish a clinical research network and architecture to implement adaptive platform trials in SSA, responding to the urgent need for improved treatment of childhood infection in an era of increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research group will lead the Capacity Building Work Package for the SNIP-AFRICA Consortium.

Funder: EDCTP