National Center for Research and Training on Malaria (CNRFP)
BURKINA FASO / December 21, 2016 / 0 Comments
Historique
CNRFP buildings
The National Center for Research and Training on Malaria (CNRFP) is part of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso. It was founded in 1982 with the financial and technical support of the General Directorate for Development Cooperation, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DOCS-MAE). The center is one of two main malaria research establishments in the country.
Objectives
The center was created to guide the development of the national malaria control program and support its implementation. The mandate of the CNRFP is therefore to participate in the formulation, implementation, supervision and evaluation of the national malaria control program; to carry out basic operational research for the identification of new tools to combat malaria and the adaptation of existing tools to local conditions; and provide training on malaria to health care providers and scientists in Burkina Faso and other African countries.
Current Activities of the CNRFP
- Community-based interventions (home management of malaria, prevention of malaria during pregnancy, materials treated with insecticide)
- Training of local and regional health personnel on strategies to combat malaria
- Training of scientists and students from Burkina as well as foreigners
- Clinical trials (drugs and vaccines)
- Evaluation of the sensitivity of P. falciparum to antimalarials (chloroquine, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine) and the sensitivity of malaria vectors to insecticides
- Epidemiology and basic research on malaria
Currently, the CNRFP team is made up of multidisciplinary scientists, several post-doctoral researchers and master or PhD students. Group members were also trained in ICH-GCP, GLP and ethics guidelines during short-term training courses. Over the past five years CNRFP has led numerous clinical trials with antimalarial drugs and the Phase Ib trial of a malaria vaccine candidate. Currently, the center has at least 20 researchers capable of conducting a research study meeting international regulatory requirements as principal investigators.
WANECAM study sites
The study will be carried out in the southwestern part of the country in the province of Comoé located 441 km from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The area of the province is 15,871 km2 and the total population is 277,384 inhabitants and 17% are children between 0 and 4 years old. The entire province is covered by the Banfora health district and has 24 community clinics named Center de Santé et de Promotion Sociale (CSPS) and the Banfora district hospital is the first level of reference for community clinics. These health centers provide health care services such as child immunization, antenatal monitoring, service delivery and family planning.
The Niangoloko Medical Center, where the ROAMA (WANECAM) study will be based, is one of the leading community clinics in the Banfora health district and is located along the border area between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
The study area belongs to the Sudano-Guinea zone, with more than 900 mm of rain per year and colder temperatures on average. Malaria transmission is highly seasonal, with transmission occurring mainly during the rainy season from May to November and low during the dry season from December to April. P. falciparum is the predominant malaria parasite with more than 95% of infections in children under five years of age.