KINTAMPO GAHAN – September 18: A man part of the medical team of INDEPTH checks blood samples for malaria 18, 2007 in the Kintampo Health Center Lab. Candidates for drugs or vaccines against malaria, TB and HIV are increasingly moving into clinical trials, and these trials are best held in regions where the diseases hit hardest. But it is complicated to monitor the testing of potential life-saving products when people have no home addresses, official means of identification, or even consistent spelling of family names. Fred Binka, a Ghanaian physician and epidemiologist who runs the INDEPTH Network, is developing systems that can make clinical trials more efficient across Africa. His organization works with community leaders to establish basic identification systems, such as numbering huts in a village or handing out laminated ID cards with photos. (Photo by Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images for Newsweek)
MCTA enabled African institutions and scholars to participate fully in the development of new tools for addressing malaria and in conducting interventions against malaria, and created a long-term partnership between African and Northern institutionsfrican-led institution
Initially, MCTA worked in partnership with two other Gates Foundation grantees, the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and the Medicines for Malaria Venture(MMV), to train personnel and improve facilities and infrastructure to ensure the successful execution of clinical trials in 10 countries across Africa (Mozambique, Gabon, Tanzania, Nigeria, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Ghana, The Gambia, Kenya and Senegal) where trial sites were identified for participation or are already participating in clinical trials.
The long term objective was to identify, support, strengthen, mentor and network trial sites to facilitate their self-sustainability, ensuring that trial sites remain functional after the end of a trial and thus increasing the number of sites in Africa which should be ready to conduct trials for malaria vaccine and drug interventions.
MCTA ensured that the trial sites were equipped with proper management, the tools to identify, hire and train staff, database and communications systems and transparent financial systems.