Participation to SARS-CoV-2 Community Study Continues!
In March and April 2023, field teams successfully pursued the community engagement and sampling activities of 500 participants taking part in a longitudinal seroprevalence community study led by our partner laboratory located in Gueckédou, Guinea.
Following the establishment of SARS-CoV-2 serology in 2021, the “Laboratoire des Fièvres Hémorragiques Virales de Gueckédou” (LFHV-GKD), with support of the “Délégation Préfectorale de la Santé” (DPS) and of the Gueckédou prefecture, launched a seroprevalence study in four local communities of Gueckédou prefecture in September 2021 to better understand the exposure to key pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2.
This study enrolled 500 participants longitudinally with sampling every 6-months. Early 2023, activities to stimulate community engagement occurred and, in March and April 2023, the fourth longitudinal sampling was carried out. These activities, led by the head of the LFHV-GKD laboratory, do not only rely on his trained laboratory team, but also on local health and non-health actors from the different communities the LFHV-GKD team trained along the study to build the capacities where needed. Despite several challenges including, among others, the logistics to access the remote locations of the study sites and to timely transfer the samples back to the LFHV-GKD laboratory, the field teams successfully completed their activities.
This GHPP program was key in supporting such a long-term activity and provided BNITM with the appropriate framework to support the operational research beneficial for Guinea. The final results of the study are expected at the end of 2023 and will provide a 2-year longitudinal overview of the community sero-status to key pathogens including SARS-CoV-2. Such results will be pivotal to further support the national health system.
Date: April 2023
