Severe Malaria

Open-label randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of whole blood transfusion for improving survival in children with severe malaria complicated by thrombocytopenia.

The proposed research aims to conduct implementation trials in Benin, co-designed with national stakeholders, to evaluate different delivery strategies for optimizing health system delivery of post-discharge malaria chemoprevention (PDMC) drugs and adherence to PDMC. This chemoprevention strategy is effective in reducing hospital readmissions and deaths after discharge. However, there is no clear delivery platform for PDMC, and adherence to the 3-day dosing regimen, provided monthly three times after discharge, is a potential limitation. The current trial will provide evidence-based data on acceptability, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness to aid decision-makers. The evidence generated will be used to support the effective implementation and scale-up of PDMC in high malaria-endemic areas such as Benin.

The goal of this implementation trial is to evaluate at least two alternative delivery strategies and adherence support for malaria chemoprevention with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in the post-discharge management of children hospitalised with severe anaemia or severe malaria to optimise adherence in Kenya. The actual interventions to be evaluated have been co-designed with national stakeholders during an initial formative research stage.

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether the integration of in-person skills practice (ISP) with an adaptive e-learning platform can improve refresher learning progress (RLP) among healthcare providers in pediatric care settings in Tanzania. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can healthcare providers who participate in ISP sessions facilitated by clinical champions achieve greater improvements in refresher learning progress (RLP)? Will providers in the intervention group demonstrate improved metacognition and practical skill performance compared to those in the control group? Researchers will compare healthcare providers using the ISP digital platform (Rhapsode Capable™) to providers using paper-based ISP to see if the digital platform results in significantly higher RLP and fewer skill-based errors. Participants will: Complete adaptive e-learning modules focused on pediatric care topics (e.g., newborn resuscitation, severe malnutrition). Participate in ISP sessions where clinical champions provide feedback and assess performance.