Medical research to beat malaria
After completing his PhD in Antwerp, in 2006,
Halidou Tinto returned to Burkina Faso to set
up the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro
(CRUN) with support from ITM. The centre,
which has expanded from 10 personnel to over
250 since then, performs medical research and
clinical trials to increase scientific knowledge
and improve health care for the greater
population.
Burkina Faso registers a staggering five million
malaria cases each year from a total of only 15 million inhabitants. Through research, Halidou Tinto
and his colleagues want to reduce the burden of this parasitic disease on the local population and on
Africa as a whole.
Currently, CRUN is one of the trial sites for the most advanced malaria vaccine in development to
date. In collaboration with ITM and research sites in Ghana, Malawi and Zambia, the centre is also
testing the efficacy and safety of four different artemisinin based antimalarial combination
treatments during pregnancy. Researchers are trying to determine which treatment is the most
effective and the safest for mother and child.
Today, clinical trials are increasingly being carried out among poor communities in countries with
limited resources. These trials are urgently needed to address the unanswered health needs of these
populations. Nevertheless, exploitation in clinical research is also a danger, especially in resource
poor settings where people may feel pushed into participating. To prevent this, trials should all
respect the international principles of research ethics and Good Clinical Practices standards. For this
reason, all the studies run jointly by CRUN and ITM are submitted for approval to ethics committees
both in Burkina Faso and in Belgium.
However, ethical clinical trial research goes beyond simply seeking approval from ethics
committees. Good collaboration and real partnership with the local community is just as important.
For this reason, CRUN has built a transparent relationship of trust with the people of Nanoro, and is
increasingly calling upon the expertise of ITM social scientists to help clinical researchers develop
this relationship further. In line with Dr Tinto’s goal of improving health care for the general
population, by monitoring and regularly following-up study participants as well as people from the
whole community, CRUN continues to have a positive impact on general health, one example of
which is its efforts to reduce infant mortality.
CRUN further makes it a priority to share the expertise it
has acquired in the field of medical studies by training
researchers from other African countries.
www.crun.bf
“Thanks to our collaboration
with ITM, we now welcome
researchers from across
Africa in Nanoro to learn
about good clinical practice.”
Dr. Halidou Tinto, CRUN Director