The Pre Kick-off Consortium Meeting project entitled ” Impact of a cryptosporidiosis point-of-care test-and-treat strategy in children with diarrhoea (CryptoT&T) “. The project is funded by the Global Health (GH) European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) 3 and is a collaboration between partners in Ethiopia (Armaur Hansen Research Institute (AHRI), Simbona PLC ), Norway (University of Bergen (UiB)) and Mozambique (The Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM)). Dr Abel Abera Negash (AHRI) is a Scientific lead of the project whreas Prof Kurt Hanevik (UiB) is the Coordinator.
The main objective of the project is to estimate the effectiveness of using light-emitting diode fluorescence microscopy with auramine-phenol staining (LED-AP) as a diagnostic method followed by targeted cryptosporidiosis treatment with nitazoxanide on diarrheal duration in children presenting to health care facilities with diarrhoea in Ethiopia and Mozambique.
The meeting was preceded by a site visit at one of the potential health centers which will serve as a study site.
The meeting began began with speeches from Prof Afework Kassu, Director General of AHRI and the Deputy Director General of AHRI, Dr Alemsged, who is also a co-investigator in the project. Prof Afework emphasized on the need for collaboration to solve public health challenges and also the role layed by the Univesity of Bergen (UiB) in the initial establishment of AHRI and UiB is now a coordinator in this project. Dr Alemseged then highlighted the evidence generated by the Crypto-POC study and how it led the to CryptoT&T.
The meeting was officialy opened by Dr Mariamawit Asfaw, Maternal, Child and Adolescent health Service Lead Executive Officer, at Ministry of Health Ethiopia. Dr Mariamawit highlighted the strides ethiopia has made in reducing materanl and child mortality and the work that still remains to be done in order to achieve SDGs. She emphasized the important role of Cryptosporidium spp as a cause of diarhhea and the impact of diarhhea in children. She expressed MOH Maternal, Child and Adolescent health Service Lead Executive Office to support the project in achieving its objectives.
This was followed by presentation by Dr Abel Abera, scientific lead of the project. His presentation highlighted the the importance of Cryptospridium spp as a cause of childhood diarrhea and its role specially in causing growth faltering and malnutrition. He indicated that the project aims to assess the clinical effectiveness of LED-AP testing, in conjunction with access to targeted drug treatment, in reducing the duration of cryptosporidiosis-induced diarrhea. This includes evaluattion of diagnostic accuracy, operational issues, cost-effectiveness, and test turnaround times in realistic setting in Ethiopia and Mozambique. Effective POC diagnostics and treatment are expected to alleviate cryptosporidiosis-induced diarrhea and reduce long-term complications. Prof Kurt Hanevik, coordinator of the project also highlighted the collective effort by CryptoT&T team who were able to write an excellent proposal which was slected by the EU-EDVTP3 for funding.
There were also presentations by Dr Dr Inacio Mandomando, CSIM, Mozambique on the role of Cryptosporidium in causing diarrhea. Dr Mandomando also shared his experinec from the GEMS study. This was followed by presentation by Dr Øystein H Johansen, Consultant Microbiologist at the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland. He highlighted his experineces from the CRYPTO-POC study that took place in Jimma, SouthWestern Ethiopia and also guided participants through a practical demonstration of LED-AP.
The partcipants in the meeting included co-investigators from Mozambique, Simbona PLC and stakeholders from Ministry of Health, Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa Health Bureau, Addis Ababa University School of Medicine, WHO Ethiopia, Ethiopian Pediatrics Association.
