COVID-19

The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Mucosal Pathogens MPRU, is now working with our world-leading partners on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some of the projects that are happening in partner institutions:

Malawi

The Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Brenda Kwambana-Adams, Marah Grace Chibwana and Todd Swarthout are working on the following, respectively:

• Exploring SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding among asymptomatic and mild cases in Malawi
• Investigating serological markers of SARS CoV-2 exposure and protective immunity in adults (SERO-PROTECT)
• COVID-19 primary healthcare facility-based community surveillance in Blantyre, Malawi

Mali

The University of Maryland Baltimore in conjunction with CVD-Mali, Karen Kotloff and Milagritos Tapia are working on:

• Surveillance of pregnant women/ infants 
• Inpatient and outpatient syndromic surveillance for COVID-19 among all age groups, including pregnant women
• Contact tracing in a sample of households
• SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey of the community and health care workers
• Assessment of impact of healthcare utilization

Kenya

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in conjunction with the Kenyan Gov, John Ojal is working on:

• Projecting the Kenyan COVID-19 epidemic

LSHTM

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Stefan Flasche, Deus Thindwa and John Ojal are working on:

• Use of seasonal influenza and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines in older adults to reduce COVID-19 mortality
• Impact of reduced/delayed measles vaccination coverage in Kenya due to COVID-19

UCL

University College London in conjunction with Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and Institute of Child Health, David Goldblatt is working on:

• Pan European paediatric health care worker SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence