Monrovia – Officials of the joint Liberia-US clinical research partnership otherwise known as PREVAIL have provided more understanding of their work and their accomplishments over the last 18 months.
The Principal Investigator of the PREVAIL Ebola Natural History Study, Dr. Mosoka Fallah appeared recently at a regular Press briefing at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) to provide updates to the research study.
Dr. Fallah informed journalists that PREVAIL was doing a tremendous work to study why after recovering from Ebola, survivors were still experiencing a range of health problems, including headache, eye problem, pain, neurological problems.
He said PREVAIL will follow these survivors for five years, pointing out that efforts were being made to provide clinical care for survivors.
He disclosed plans by PREVAIL to discontinue the birth cohorts program for pregnant Ebola survivors and close contacts of impregnated by survivors because study investigation had so far revealed no sign of Ebola in pregnant female survivors.
Dr. Fallah said Liberia had made significant gains and there are plans to use a candidate vaccine in Liberia during Ebola outbreaks. But he was quick to point out that a study was intended to vaccinate citizens of the three Mano River Union countries—Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone— to soon begin in Guinea.
This will be followed by Sierra Leone and Liberia.
As a result of PREVAIL’s work, a discussion has now been initiated among the Liberian Ministry of Health, MSF, and Merck, manufacturer of the vaccine, to use the VSV Ebola vaccine as part of the ministry-led public health response to future Ebola outbreaks in Liberia as part of an expanded access research protocol.
Also speaking, the Director of Operations Jemee Tegli spoke of the level of achievements made by PREVAIL since its inception in Liberia.
Tegli provided, via the aid of a Powerpoint presentation, the picture of where the study was and where it is now.
He emphasized before how the study had transformed the infrastructures of the Redemption Hospital, JFK medical center, Duport Road Health Center and the C. H, Rennie Hospital In Kakata, where PREVAIL’s research programs are being conducted.
He also spoke of the assistance being rendered the Liberia Biomedical Research Institute (LIBR) by the US National Institutes of Health through the partnership.
As a result, five researchers from the LIBR have benefitted from advanced training abroad.
He also spoke of other training opportunities being provided by PREVAIL to other Liberians to study at Harvard and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
For their part, the head of Community Engagement, Ambassador Juli Endee and SMC Co-Lead, Barthalomew Wilson in separate appearances lauded the communities for embracing the research studies more especially the Vaccine and the Ebola Natural History Study.
Ambassador Endee said much was achieved in terms of mobilizing the community through the ethics standards and framework of the study.
She emphasized that the use of Liberian cultural played a pivotal role in changing perceptions of volunteers in the vaccine study and to seek enrollment of survivors.
She praised PREVAIL’s partners as well as the American and Liberia governments for the partnership, which is helping to find a solution to the problem.
She called on Liberians to be a part of history-making by promoting the study through the dissemination of factual information.
Barthalomew Wilson said much was achieved over the past year through the intervention of a robust community engagement strategy and by reaching out to the community to get them aware and solicit their ideas on the study.