The second freeBILy consortium annual meeting was held at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar from 11 to 13 March 2020. The meeting was attended by representatives from all consortium partners.
After a word of welcome from our Madagascan partners prof. Raphaël Rakotozandrindrainy from the University of Antananarivo, prof Rivo Rakotoarivelo from the University of Fianarantsoa and Tahinamandranto Rasamoelina from the Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Mérieux, an update on project coordination activities was given by the Project Management Team from LUMC. All freeBILy partners were given the opportunity to provide updates with regard to their specific work packages.
Time was also devoted to detailed discussions on the progress of the clinical trials in both Gabon and Madagascar. Recruitment, inclusion, screening, and follow-up of study participants in both clinical arms and the various study sites is well underway. Capacity building and training in diagnostic techniques for helminths, applied epidemiology and mother-child public health care interventions for staff of the African and European centers has been successfully employed and is still ongoing. In a limited number of samples, the simultaneous measuring of CCA and CAA, can be performed straightforwardly and limited differences are observed in the CAA/CCA ratio between schistosome species. Data are being collected on the Quality of Life using validated methods. Preliminary results show no essential difference between intervention and control groups.
Prior to the meeting, a CAA implementation and training workshop was given at the Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Mérieux (CICM) in Madagascar.
CAA training
The ultra-sensitive diagnostic test for schistosmiasis, the UCP-LF CAA test, now also fully implemented and running at the Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Mérieux (CICM) in Madagascar.
freeBILy Annual Meeting in Madagascar
A word of welcome by prof. Raphaël Rakotozandrindrainy from the University of Antananarivo, prof Rivo Rakotoarivelo from the University of Fianarantsoa and Tahinamandranto Rasamoelina from the Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Mérieux
The meeting was attended by representatives from all consortium partners
Update from the Project Management Team / LUMC
Update from the Madagascar team (University of Antananarivo)
Update from the Madagascar team (University of Fianarantsoa)
Update from CERMEL, Gabon
All partners joined for a lovely dinner hosted by the Madagascan team
Field visit Madagascar
One of the primary health care centers included in the freeBILy trial in Madagascar
freeBILy staff in Madagascar are wearing freeBILy t-shirts
Recent Comments