May 2006 Report
Summary:
May saw plenty of activity with on-going research projects as the entomological, GIS and Fitness projects continued to carry out field work. The hospital load of malaria cases eased off by the end of the month, with fewer malaria cases admitted in May as compared to April.
The three buildings under construction as part of the USAID project made good progress, as did the duplex flat being constructed with Hopkins funding. Additional buildings have not yet been begun until there is a supply of new bricks.
Work in the research lab continued, with on-going problems related to the thermocyclers used for PCR, which seem to not work consistently on the varying electrical current provided by the mains.
Visitors to MIAM in May included a 35-strong delegation from Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and a group of sixteen US undergraduates here for a course taught on "Health Care in the Developing World".
I - General Site Development and Maintenance
With decreasing rainfall in May the grounds began to lose their lush green color, but various scattered flower gardens and the growing bougainvillea along the fence, added color to the landscape.
Water mains were connected to the new buildings under construction during the month, and the fence and walking grid connecting to the hospital were completed.
II - Construction of Buildings
Staff Houses A and B were reaching final stages of the plastering process by months end, with wall plastering completed and floors being poured. Electrical work was completed in House B, and is nearly done in House A. Internal carpentry was commenced with completion of most ceilings. Some preliminary painting has begun in House A, now that the wall plaster had dried. The one bedroom duplex was roofed and had most walls plastered by month's end, with the beginning of floor pouring.
The Hopkins two bed-roomed duplex is still behind as compared to the other buildings, though it made good progress in May with roofing, wall plastering, and electrical work being done. A minor construction accident occurred when trusses that were being placed for the roofing slipped and fell, landing on some of the laborers. Fortunately, no one was injured badly, other than some minor bruises.
III - Information Technology
The VSAT-based broadband network continued to function well, with very few outages this month. On-going work with network printers, anti-virus installation and other network related activity continued. An additional server was purchased and installed in the USA in a commercial center and is being set up to "mirror" the current server at Macha. This should help to enhance and make the IT system more stable. In the event that Macha would go off-line, the mirror server would be able to continue to receive emails and store them, as well as keep copies of all databases and web pages. In addition, using such a "mirror" should cut down on broadband traffic over our current VSATs, eventually helping to control costs. Now that we have two VSATs at Macha with appropriate redundancy, negotiations have been on-going with the original VSAT provider (SkyVision) to give us better service at a lower cost.
IV - Vehicles/Transport
Vehicle and motorcycle use remained heavy during the month as the field projects continued. The lorry was also heavily used for the construction project, and continues to need frequent minor repairs to keep it in operating condition!
V - Research Activities
The entomological collection work for this season was scaled down in May, and the insectary is no longer keeping mosquitoes, since none are currently being caught in the wild.
The GIS and Fitness projects under the direction of Dr. Mharakurwa continued with work in the field and in the PCR lab. Mr. Kamanga continued to update the GIS data and traveled to the USA for two weeks for further training in his field at Hopkins with Tim Shields.
The Anemia study is still open with follow-up of cases scheduled through July, but no new cases were recruited.
The Pediatric Coartem study was not begun in May as originally planned, due to not receiving ethical approval for the study from the Ethics Committee in Lusaka. Hopefully this study will be able to be conducted next malaria season at Macha.
PCR work in the lab was slowed down due to the frequent problems encountered with the thermocyclers not working correctly. Although UPS units were purchased in an effort to provide reliable and steady voltage to the machines, this still proved inadequate. Arrangements are being made to purchase a better type of UPS unit from England that should allow the units to work more independently of the electrical mains.
VI - Other
A delegation of about 35 people, who were attending the annual Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) stakeholders meeting in Livingstone, paid a one day visit to Macha in early May. Among the visitors were several well known malaria researchers, including former directors of malaria research sites in Brazil and Tanzania. The interchange with the many experts was helpful, and all of them were impressed with what has been done in establishing MIAM so far away from any urban area!
A group of sixteen undergraduate students from Messiah College in the USA spent three weeks on the MIAM campus taking a course entitled "Health Care in the Developing World". It is hoped that their exposure to the research and clinical work at Macha may spark an interest in future involvement in this type of work. Two of the students will remain behind to assist on PCR work on the Anemia study. They join two Dutch medical students working on TB and HIV data analysis with Dr. van Dijk.