September 2006 Report
Summary:
September saw an increase in the mosquito population - as is often the case in the month of September at Macha - but they were all culicine mosquitoes, so transmission of malaria remained very low!
The on-going PCR work in the research lab continued, and preparations were being made for a possible drug study of pediatric Coartem in children during next malaria season. Planning was also carried out for field work which will begin in October. While a number of MIAM employees took their annual leave during this relatively quiet month, contracts were signed by two new MIAM employees - a lab scientist, Ms Taida Kumwenda, and an entomology assistant, Mr Musapa Mulenga. Both are University of Zambia trained, with bachelor's degrees.
The one exciting thing to happen at Macha was the beginning of construction for a local mobile phone tower - which will be erected about one kilometre from the MIAM campus. It is expected that by the end of the year we will have phone access through this provider, Celtel.
I - General Site Development and Maintenance
All three phases of the electrical lines were finally extended to the research lab, and the process is now beginning to balance the phases within the lab. It is hoped that this will improve the voltage fluctuations being experienced in the lab - which will get worse as the weather gets hotter and all the air conditioning units in the lab are running! We also managed to finally get the electrical company to come and adjust the local transformer, so that we now have 220 volts coming out of the transformer on all three phases, and not the 208 volts that was there before!
II - Construction of Buildings
After many months of construction work, the three bed-roomed staff houses were essentially completed except for a few minor things. Staff members who were eligible and had applied for housing, were assigned to the houses by a recently formed "housing committee," and it is expected that the employees will move into them in early October.
The USAID-sponsored one bed-roomed duplex also neared the final acceptance level by MIAM from the construction team, and two single staff members were assigned to that building for their residence. They should be able to move in by mid to late October.
The Hopkins funded 2 bed-roomed duplex saw slow but steady progress, with painting and carpentry nearly completed on the one side, and progressing well on the other side.
The third USAID-funded staff house (House "C") continued to progress well, having reached "ring beam" level by months end.
The trenches for the dormitory footers had been dug by the end of the month, with sand, crushed stones and bricks all hauled to the site in preparation for pouring of the footers in early October.
III - Information Technology
A project to install wireless hubs throughout the hospital during the month took place, but all the new wireless access points seemed to bring some difficulty in regular operation of the network, such that internet access was intermittent through part of the month. There was also evidence for "worms" slowing down internet access, as there appears to be a constant bombardment of our servers by various "worms" and "viruses".
A prolonged electrical outage from the national grid near the end of the month, despite generator back-up being run as much as possible, also led to network interruptions, since the battery back-up units for the servers are no longer able to function for very long without mains service. The frequent abrupt loss of power to the servers also led to subsequent internet connectivity problems, and it was only near the end of the month when one of the IT people came back to Macha after being away, that we got the problem sorted out.
IV - Vehicles/Transport
All vehicles remained in operation, with the FUSO truck still having frequent breakdowns. After several delays in it returning from trips to Lusaka and Choma, it was decided as much as possible to only use it locally, and contract for some supplies, like cement, to be delivered to MIAM, rather than using our own truck to haul it from Choma.
A used FUSO Fighter truck was sourced during the month in Durban, South Africa, but unfortunately it was sold the day before our planned transfer of funds by bank wire! We continue to work on getting another truck to replace the aging one that we have been using!
V - Research Activities
PCR work continued, with a slight slowing down when Dr. Mharakurwa left with his wife for two weeks to enable her to have the baby in South Africa (they finally got a daughter after three sons!).
Data entry continued on the routine malaria hospitalizations, and GIS work and mapping continued as well.
Final preparations were put into place, with all regulatory approvals finally completed, so that a clinical trial of pediatric Coartem can be begun when the malaria transmission season increases again.
Dr. Mharakurwa received good news during he month with the notification that his manuscript describing the detection of malaria parasite DNA in saliva had been provisionally accepted by the Malaria Journal, but requires adequate responses to the referees critiques, before being accepted for publication.
VI - Personnel
The newly hired lab scientist, Miss Taida Kumwenda, arrived at Macha by the end of Sept, ready and eager to start work the beginning of October.
An individual to be trained to be a full time entomologist, Mr. Musapa Mulenga, was also hired this month, but needs to complete other obligations until Oct 6th. He will first be sent to Baltimore and subsequently Johannesburg, SA for entomology training, then settle-in at Macha around mid December. The goal is to have him set up and maintain continuous colonies of anophelines at the MIAM insectary, and work with Hopkins professors in carrying out various entomologic experiments
VII - Other
The inspector that came from South Africa to inspect our bio-safety hoods, found that the one that had been donated by another agency, and designated for the planned future TB work, did not pass the required standards. On the other hand, the older Nuaire hood that had been shipped out from Hopkins in the container in 2004, was found to pass all applicable international standards, and was certified as a level two Biosafety cabinet.
All eight of the air conditioning units in the molecular biology lab were serviced this month by a company from Lusaka, while two new A/C units were installed in the clinical research lab being developed, with funding from the USAID project.
One of the three mobile phone operators in the country, Celtel, began digging of footer trenches for an 80 metre cell phone tower to be erected about one kilometer from MIAM, near the current Macha Girls High School. Each hole was dug by hand, and is about 12 feet by 12 feet, and 10 - 12 feet deep. The company is known to be quite aggressive and active in its developing of new sites, and the tower is expected to be operational by the end of the year, if all goes well!