January 2006 Report
Summary:
January continued to have nearly daily rain showers, leading to plenty of water in local streams, and apparently contributing to the rising populations of anopheline mosquitoes being caught by the end of the month. Despite the documented increase in the malaria vectors, the actual number of confirmed malaria cases seen at Macha Hospital remained low - similar to the low case load of malaria experienced in 2005, though it is still too early to determine what this rainy season will bring!
Field work progressed smoothly throughout the month, with entomological and malaria prevalence studies continuing. Lab work, primarily PCR work by Dr. Mharakurwa, also continued. Additional PCR work on Dr. Thuma's malarial anemia study samples was begun at month's end with a student from University of Austria assisting, and help from Dr. Sue Penno.
Construction of the new USAID sponsored buildings progressed rapidly under the direction of the new Construction Manager, Pete Penno, with the new Hopkins-sponsored 2 bedroomed duplex also making steady but slower progress.
Finally, visits to MIAM by Dr. Clive Shiff, two Hopkins magazine staff (Brian Simpson and David Colwell), in addition to Dr. Norris and R. Kent, kept the fleet of vehicles busy.
I - General Site Development
The heavy rains kept the grass growing rapidly, but the committed grounds personnel, together with extra staff hired temporarily, managed to keep the slashers going and generally kept ahead of the growing grass
Electrical outages were not as frequent as in December, but the generator ran on several occasions.
II - Construction of Buildings
Four buildings were progressing during the month - three have now reached floor slab level with early brick work started, while the 2 bedroomed duplex is nearing the stage of pouring the concrete slab. Crews of rock crushers sit near the building site much of the day crushing the rock by hand, while temporary workers help haul sand and gravel in the 7 ton truck from nearby sources to the construction site. A local tractor and wagon was also hired to keep up with the need for sand, etc.
The two other mid-level staff houses were pegged out, and the site on the north west section of the MIAM campus is being selectively cleared of some trees and brush under-growth, to make room for the dormitory and the kitchen/dining room.
III - Information Technology
During January, two IT experts who are at Macha as volunteer consultants for 4 to 8 weeks, helped to upgrade the network and establish better network and broadband management tools. This has resulted in improved quality of VoIP when using Skype, thus allowing for more frequent verbal contact with Hopkins faculty. One conference call between Dr. Sullivan at Hopkins, and Drs. Thuma and Mharakurwa at MIAM, was nearly as good as if held on regular phone lines!
Utilizing funds from the USAID grant, a separate VSAT system (operating on Ku band which is not as reliable during rainy days, but overall less costly than C band), was obtained, and is in the process of being installed. This will provide extra bandwidth for the rapidly growing research and hospital community, as well as provide for a back-up system should the main VSAT and Internet connection go down.
IV - Vehicles
Despite heavy usage during January, all the MIAM vehicles remained on the road, with no significant problems. The motorcycles were heavily used, and the very muddy paths and roads resulted in wear and tear on the chains and sprockets.
V - Research Activities
Dr. Mharakurwa continued to work on his PCR projects, especially on the finding of P falciparum DNA in urine and saliva, when the parasite is also present in blood. With few malaria cases again so far this year, it has been difficult for him to obtain enough clinical specimens to test and clearly document this finding!
The Norris and Kent projects continued with mosquito collecting. Though the temporary workers on this project had demanded a higher stipend than that received by equivalent full time MIAM workers, this issue was eventually resolved amicably, with work continuing throughout the discussions.
A colony of anophelines was collected by Dr. Norris and Rebekah Kent before they returned to the US in late January, and left in the insectary under the care of locally trained workers. The goal is to try and maintain the colony, allowing for further entomological research projects in the future.
Field studies for the GIS study, including on-going work to establish baseline malariometric data, was carried out in January. Most study grids continued to show around a 5% parasite positivity rate in the population, but some grids along the eastern side of the mapped area, primarily those along a riverine valley, showed higher parasite prevalence rates. It is hoped that with a full time GIS staff member here, this pattern can be fully investigated and mapped.
VI - Personnel
While Dr Shiff was in Zambia for his site visit, interviews were held for the position of GIS Manager, after an advertisement had been placed in the national newspaper. By month's end, one well qualified candidate had been offered the job and had accepted the offer of an initial two year contract. As soon as suitable arrangements can be made for his local housing, he intends to move to Macha and begin work. The plan is for him to be trained locally by Tim Shields from Hopkins , followed by further training at Hopkins in GIS.
VII - Other
During the visit to Macha by Clive Shiff in January, extensive discussions were held on the long term plans for MIAM. It was felt that in addition to being a site where Hopkins researchers and students could work, it was important to purposely develop in areas where MIAM could fill a necessary niche for the malaria research community in Zambia.
Three areas that were identified were (i) GIS studies, (ii) molecular biology and sophisticated laboratory work, and (iii) entomology. Currently, none of the other malaria research institutions in Zambia have a working insectary, so this aspect of MIAM will be further developed. In this regard, it would be helpful to plan for a full time entomologist to join the MIAM staff in the future to carry out this part of the work.
Training in the above areas and in the related techniques and methodologies - for both national and regional individuals - is also seen as an area to develop capacity in. Along these lines, approaches were made at the University of Zambia to bring graduate students in entomology and parasitology to MIAM to work on practical aspects and projects in their field of training. This possibility has been met positively by the current director of the Masters' program in Parasitology at UNZA, and further work will be done to continue this process. Once the USAID-funded dormitory and dining room/kitchen are completed (probably in late 2007), this idea can be developed in a more concrete way.
Finally, due to the recent significant appreciation of the Kwacha to the Dollar, a supplement to the annual operating budget was sought from the JHMRI Director by Dr. Shiff. It appears that assurances have been made that an additional amount will be added to this years budget, to cover the additional amount needed to continue to pay adequate salaries to the local staff.