Partnership for Research in Emerging Viral Infections-Sierra Leone (PREVSL)

Project Summary/ Abstract: Our existing award titled: Partnership for Research in Emerging Viral Infections-Sierra Leone, (PREVSL) [pronounced “Prev Sil”] (currently in its fifth year) has successfully begun to lay the foundation for Sierra Leone led implementation science and clinical trial research in emerging infections through capacity strengthening activities that targeted both the Kenema Government Hospital (KGH), a long- standing international field research site for the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever research program, located in the country´s Eastern Province; and the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) at University of Sierra Leone (USL) in the capital city of Freetown, the country’s only medical school. Emerging infections threaten the health of people, animals, and agriculture but our systems for surveillance and detection are limited. Emerging infections are defined as those that have recently appeared in a population or that previously existed but have recently increased in incidence or geographic scope, such as was seen with the recent Mpox outbreak. Africa, and in particular West Africa, has a disproportionate vulnerability to outbreaks due to the large number of zoonotic reservoirs, poor healthcare infrastructure, and the high number of endemic infectious diseases found there. In Sierra Leone alone, EVD, Lassa Fever, Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, Yellow Fever, Dengue, Chikungunya, Mpox, Influenza, and SARS-CoV-2 have all been identified there. In addition, bat populations common to Sierra Leone have been found to have Marburg virus. Finally, like much of Africa, Sierra Leone also has high rates of antimicrobial resistance. With the foundations established in Phase I of PREVSL now in place, we will shift the bulk of our focus in the renewal proposal towards COMAHS, ensuring it has the capacity to train the next generation of high quality biomedical and public health scientists AND that it maximizes its potential to be a major player in driving Sierra Leone´s infectious disease research agenda. We will do this while continuing to strengthen the KGH clinical research program as a training site for future COMAHS masters and doctoral student researchers and through the promotion of ongoing implementation science and clinical trial research in emerging infections from which trainees can attain practical and applied research skills and experiences. Our Specific Aims are to 1) Train four PhD level investigators from Sierra Leone in disciplines relevant to emerging infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness; 2) Reinforce institutional capacity and competitiveness of COMAHS as Sierra Leone´s premier academic health sciences research institution; and 3) Promote and expand the conduct of high-quality implementation science and clinical trial research in emerging infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness by continuing to capacitate the Kenema Government Hospital - clinical research program field site.