IVI and Malawi

 

Ongoing Collaboration

 

Strep A Vaccine Global Consortium (SAVAC) 2.0

SAVAC 2.0 was established in 2023 as a follow-on to the SAVAC 1.0 project, which sought to strengthen existing international networks and bringing new stakeholders into the global effort to introduce Group A Strep (GAS) vaccines. 

 

SAVAC 2.0 will further accelerate the development of GAS vaccines by paving the way for clinical trials, engaging with industry stakeholders, addressing important questions regarding Strep A vaccine safety, and preparing countries and global stakeholders for the implementation of a Strep A vaccine.

 

In order to conduct GAS epidemiological surveillance and hold future vaccine clinical trials, SAVAC is working with its partners in Fiji, The Gambia, Malawi, and Chandigarh, India to establish sentinel sites to host these field activities. 

 

SAVAC 2.0 partners include the Kids Research Institute in Perth, Australia; the Murdoch Children Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia; Shift Health in Toronto, Canada; the WHO; and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, USA. SAVAC 2.0 is made possible by $11.19 million USD in grants from the Wellcome Trust, Open Philanthropy, and the Leducq Foundation.

 

Previous Collaboration

 

Regional Antimicrobial resistance Data Analysis for Advocacy, Response and Policy (RADAAR)

The RADAAR project aims to improve regional data-sharing and analysis for use in AMR planning, policy, and advocacy. Since 2021, the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), the lead grantee, has been collaborating with Brigham and Women’s Hospital (WHONET), the Big Data Institute (University of Oxford), and the Public Health Surveillance Group, as well as the Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) of the WHO, on various activities.

 

Based on identified needs and demands emerging from countries, RADAAR has laid the groundwork and embarked on a strategic pathway to strengthen the capacities of low- and middle-income countries in translating AMR knowledge (data/evidence) into effective policies. 

 

To this end, IVI’s Policy and Economic Research (PER) department has completed a series of training workshops and disseminated a co-developed ‘step-by-step’ AMR Policy Advocacy country guide. Furthermore, the IVI PER team conducted the RADAAR–EVIPNet country capacity strengthening pilot initiative on AMR knowledge translation, which was piloted in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, and Uganda.

 

Cholera Surveillance in Malawi (CSIMA) Program

From 2015 to 2020, IVI’s CSIMA Program helped Malawi develop a national cholera control plan and vaccinate a large portion of the population against cholera. Operating from 40 health centers across two districts, CSIMA conducted disease surveillance, household healthcare utilization surveys, cost of illness studies, WASH activities, and herd immunity studies. CSIMA was funded by the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

 

Emergency Cholera Vaccination

In 2015, following massive flooding in the Nsanji district, IVI in collaboration with the Malawi Ministry of Health, the WHO, UNICEF, and John Snow International (JSI) initiated an emergency vaccination campaign that provided 135,000 people in Nsanje District with the oral cholera vaccine (OCV). 67% of the target population received the recommended two doses. This effort was funded by a donation from Kia Motors.