Aim: To establish a ‘response framework’ that alleviates administrative, regulatory and ethical bottlenecks and ensures ALERRT can act swiftly to initiate research.
August 2022
- All milestones were completed except the Mobile Research Unit (MRU). The team is planning to review the MRU utility and conceptualise it again as the current COVID pandemic has provided more capacity to do field research.
- The team plan to review the trigger, especially with Monkeypox and Marburg. The Marburg situation is being closely monitored. The team is also exploring opportunities to start a seroprevalence study, and approach ALERRT to assist in identifying possible funding opportunities.
- Regarding Monkeypox, the team will has seen there is a need to identify who can take the lead amongst the network.
April 2021
ALIMA is planning an internal training in French on operational deployment of the Mobile Research Unit (MRU) and this willinclude a session on research. The training date is yet to be confirmed.
January 2021
ALERRT WP4 made significant contributions to the global protocol developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) R&D Blueprint Team (see acknowledgement section of: https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/perceptions-of-healthcare-workers-regarding-local-infection-prevention-and-control-procedures-for-covid-19-research-protocol). The HCWS is being implemented in Cameroon, Ghana, Uganda and Senegal.
To date, more than 10,000 African HCWs have participated in this study.
September 2020
The Healthcare Worker Survey (HCWS) is a social science study aiming at evaluating healthcare worker perceptions of information, motivation and behavioural skills related to recommended IPC procedures.
June 2020
The ALERRT CCP is a cohort adapted from the ISARIC-WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol for use by ALERRT and non-ALERRT African partners to better understand the presentation of the disease in the continent. Involved countries are Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Uganda, Guinea, Kenya, CAR and DRC. Weekly coordination meetings are held between participant organisations as well as external partners such as GOARN.
March 2020
In February 2020, the Feasibility assessment form included in the Concept of operations was adapted to the COVID-19 outbreak and disseminated to ALERRT partners to evaluate the status of research response to the outbreak in Africa and how ALERRT can support it. Two multi-country studies are supported by ALERRT in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa: the Healthcare Worker Survey (HCWS) and the ALERRT Clinical Characterisation Protocol (ALERRT CCP).