Projects

A core group of faculty in the Department of International Health, where Stop Cholera is based, have several ongoing cholera projects in Africa and Asia.  These include

  1. Cholera Genomics.  This project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and being carried out in partnership with the African Centre for Disease Control  https://africacdc.org/ is building capacity in the national laboratories of five African countries, enabling them to understand the genomics of cholera in Africa.  The countries include Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Mozambique.
  2. Epidemiology and Ecology of Cholera in Africa.  This project, funded by National Institutes of Health is studying cholera transmission patterns and mechanisms of spread.  By identifying risk factors in micro-hotspots in Nigeria and Uganda, it will identify ways to stop its spread, Also, the project will further define a cholera elimination scorecard to help countries monitor progress toward national elimination. 
  3. RISE project.  This project, funded by GAVI is being carried out in partnership with Group for Technical Assistance https://www.gtanepal.org/  and International Vaccine Institute https://www.ivi.int/ is evaluating the effective use of rapid diagnostic tests to determine how and when to use these relatively new test strips.  By improving the availability and their effective use, GAVI hopes to better target the use of oral cholera vaccine.
  4. Rapid Loop Diagnostic Test (RLDT) for Cholera.  This project, funded by Wellcome Trust is developing a new sensitive assay for cholera.  Studies are now assessing its use in remote areas of Africa and Asia. 
  5. MEFA Vaccine for Cholera.  this project, in a preclinical phase, is developing a new injectable vaccine for cholera based on the MEFA platform.  This platform identifies the key epitopes of the protein virulence factors of Vibrio cholera to create a Multi-Epitope Fusion Antigen (MEFA) vaccine.  Animal studies suggest this approach has promise.