The MARCH Centre at LSHTM beams spotlight on THRU ZIM
22nd April 2022
The Maternal Adolescent Reproduction & Child Health Centre (MARCH) at LSHTM releases an article on our research group’s name change. Details include Prof. Rashida Ferrand sharing insight into why our group has embarked upon this transformation. For more information, access the following link: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres/march-centre/news/341351/introducing-health-research-unit-zimbabwe
Presentation at “A Menstrual Health Learning and Networking Event”
7th April 2022
Mandi Tembo presented her research findings on the acceptability, uptake, and effectiveness of a comprehensive menstrual health and hygiene intervention within a community-based SRH service for young people. The event was attended by over 50 relevant stakeholders and included a panel discussion on MHH-related issues in Zimbabwe.
Mabvuku High School Science Fair 2022
5th April 2022
This is a prime highlight in our secondary school engagement initiative and this year; 15 students produced and presented some ground-breaking inventions. Themed on ideas in science & health, students were encouraged to produce projects that sought to address real-world issues especially within the communities they reside. The outputs were astounding with some creations that included a temperature modifier for greenhouses, a magnet powered cool box and many more. Our top three finalists received cash prizes and students also took part in an interactive science quiz and received plenty of refreshments!
Wellcome Trust Bloomsbury Centre for Global Health Research Scientific Meeting:
14-17th March 2022
The highly anticipated 4-day scientific seminar took place in both Zimbabwe and The Gambia. PhD students and global health luminaries delivered a diverse line-up of presentations themed on vaccines, nutrition & development, neonatal health, infection & AMR, HIV & adolescent health, public engagement and many more.
The Zvatinoda ! Project represented at OPHID Dissemination Event
10th March 2022
The Zvatinoda intervention involved 13 weeks of peer-led discussions on mobile phones. Health knowledge, needs and commitments of young people summarised in co-designed pamphlet. A music video was also previewed and young people presented to local and national stakeholders on what they want in terms of health services and support to stay healthy.
AVAPAR receives its first molecular machine
March 7 2022
On this day, a molecular machine for pathogen identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing in blood culture isolates in the AVAPAR study arrived. An important piece of equipment required for the study to operate smoothly.
The VITALITY Consortium
March 1-3 2022
Work package leads, MSc and PhD students and trial partners travelled to Lusaka, Zambia to present on baseline data compiled thus far. In addition to this, interesting ideas were shared and important collaborations were formed. The meeting also presented an opportunity for both the investigators and students to interact and learn from one another. The baseline paper is yet to be released.
TAZ study conducts social science workshop at Wilkins Hospital
March 1 2022
Lead nurses from 14 City of Harare clinics were tasked to identify key events between 2016-2021 at clinic & community level that affected the uptake of OPD, FHS services & HCW antibiotic prescribing.
Fractures E3 lead featured on Clinical Trials Programme Newsletter
March 2022
Fractures E3 study coordinator, Tadios Manyanga, has been featured on this online publication where he discussed his experiences of balancing his commitments to the study and being a student.
Visit this link for more information: https://sway.office.com/eVXxIKiKKg2pAQTn?ref=Link&loc=play
Student attachments in school engagement
Feb/March 2022
For an opportunity to participate in implementation research, 3 enthusiastic ‘A’ level sciences students from Mabvuku High School completed a 2-week student attachment programme with ERASE-TB, VITALITY and CHIEDZA studies. The students: Blessed Adzvingwe, Takunda Nathan Miskano and Denzel Chimoto, got to learn about key study procedures and the diverse professions found in science and health. They remarked their experience as fulfilling and inspiring and hope to reach to greater heights in future!
ERASE-TB Community Advisory Board Meeting
February 25th 2022
The trial’s community advisory board convened on this day and information was shared on recruitment & follow-up updates, success stories, important feedback and suggestions from the community.
Research Partnership Strategy Meeting
February 23 2022
In response to the substantial growth we have been experiencing, this meeting was held to primarily begin restructuring our organization into key themes and departments, identifying leads and developing new systems within the departments. These new systems are intended to streamline operations within our organization to ensure uniformity across board.
Y-Check study welcomes new team members
February 3 2022
Y-Check intervention development continued throughout January as the study gears towards piloting and we officially welcomed a few new team members. Raphel Nyahwedegwe and Chipo Mazarura joined as finance and social science interns, respectively. We also welcomed Prosper Usika (research nurse), Tendai Murwira (counsellor), and Cuthbert Sekanevana (research assistant). Welcome to the growing team!
Neotree project convenes storytelling training workshops for mothers
February 2022
The Neotree project in partnership with Patsimeredu Edutainment Trust and Art and Global Health Centre Africa (ArtGlo) held the first multimedia and participatory arts training workshop targeting mothers at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital. The training sought to build the capacity of mothers to share their stories and experiences on child birth, new born care and accessing health services through drawing, photography, photo-voice and film. Multimedia and participatory arts workshops are part of a broader public engagement strategy that seeks to explore barriers and enablers to improving neonatal care in Zimbabwe through engaging parents (mothers), health professionals and researchers in the co-design and development of the Neotree project.
Vitality study celebrates one-year participant visit and publication!
January 31 2022
The VITALITY study has achieved it's one-year participant follow up visit milestone on where we had the first participants recruited in VITALITY completing their week 48 of taking the trial drugs across the two sites (Zimbabwe and Zambia). This is a big achievement for the study as week 48 visit determines the primary outcome of the study. The Zimbabwe team had their first week 48 visits on 6 January 2022 whilst, Zambia had their first week 48 visits on 31 January 2022. The VITALITY study is also celebrating another huge milestone. The protocol paper has now been published in the BMC trials journal. Link to full text article https://rdcu.be/cFM7Y
Students take part in scientific writing retreat
January 25 2022
Our MSc and PhD students received a fantastic opportunity to sharpen their scientific writing skills over a 5-day writing retreat at Cresta Lodge in Harare. The purpose of the retreat was to train our students on how to write sections of scientific manuscript and to learn about the scientific publication process. Students testified on improvements in their writing skills revealing that it was a valuable experience for all!
FE3 study work package 1 conducts protocol training
January 24 2022
The research team for work package 1 of the Fractures E3 study underwent a 2-week protocol training. The work package will focus on vertebral fracture prevalence amongst men and women aged 40 going up using community-based population surveys across urban in peri-urban & rural settings in Zimbabwe and The Gambia.
Photoshoot for our research teams!
January 19 2022
A photoshoot showcasing activities that are most central to our research partnership was held to create stunning visuals for our upcoming website. These activities include: departments and studies in action, laboratory procedures, students working on projects and workshops in progress. The website is expected to launch by the end of the first quarter of the year.
CHIEDZA prevalence survey launches in Bulawayo.
January 4 2022
As of the 4th of January, prevalence survey has begun in Bulawayo and prior to this, a 2-week training for all staff was held from the 6th-17th of December 2021. The training covered data management, collection of anthropometric measurements, collection of DBS specimens, ethical concerns in research and obtaining written informed consent as well as youth friendliness. For the next three months, the community-based prevalence survey aims to recruit 5600 youth aged 18-24 years in 8 suburbs. Mashonaland East team continues with the intervention. CHIEDZA peer support groups have resumed. Clients are happy with the discussions in the meetings as they discuss issues which affect them daily for example relationship issues.
Art of Health Competition wraps up!
16 December 2021
The Art of Health Competition concluded on Thursday 16 December with a prize giving ceremony. The runners-up received $500 each, while the winners received $1000 in cash prizes.). We look forward to collaborating further with our winners in the foreseeable future hope to continue our mission to create engaging health and well-being themed content that holds the power to effectively engage young people across the country.
Group donates masks to Ministry of Primary & Secondary Education
December 8 2021
Over 100 000 triple layered reusable cloth masks from Esquel Group (China) were donated to the ministry and were officially received by Minister. Hons. Dr. E. Ndlovu to subsequently distribute in schools across the nation.
Informed consent solution receives high recognition award (VOICE)
December 3 2021
Extending a hearty congratulations to researcher, Tinashe Mwaturura, for leading on submitting an entry to HIV Open Call on Informed Consent and Ethics in Research Involving Young People (VOICE). A proposed informed consent solution embedded in the CHIEDZA endline survey (and was top 3 out of 110 entries)
Providing essential services at Tongogara Refugee Camp
December 1 2021
Our group represented by researchers, Dr. Chido Dziva Chikwari and Constancia Mavodza, took the initiative to provide sexual reproductive health services (SRH) and menstrual hygiene products to adolescent girls & young women in partnership with Population Services Zimbabwe, Childline and the Swedish Embassy in Zimbabwe.
Y-Check study completes ‘Zve Hutano’ health crowdsourcing competition
November 25 2021
A health crowdsourcing competition (Oct 18 – Nov 19th) targeted at young people ages between 10 to 19 years (from Chitungwiza), that aimed to stimulate bright ideas, striking images and unique strategies to encourage young people to seek regular check-ups. The results were fascinating projects in the music and design categories for which winners were announced on the 25th of November. The next phase of this public engagement endeavour is a Hackathon in December, that will see top contestants developing the Y-Check brand through logo design and theme song creation.
Dr. Farirai Nzvere to commence PhD programme with ISEG at LSHTM
November 23 2021
Dr. Farrie, has joined the International Statistics and Epidemiology Group to commence his PhD programme in January 2022 which will evaluate the effectiveness of a school and community-based health check-up intervention.
Junior academics undergo presentation skills & public speaking training
November 23 2021
Our junior academics (PhD & MSc students) took part in a 3-day comprehensive presentation skills and public speaking training to better represent themselves on public platforms. The sessions covered presentation dos and don’ts where they acquired useful tips on how to properly format and structure PowerPoint presentations, and learning technical aspects to presenting well. This training was highly interactive with our student particularly noting how beneficial it was!
Dr. Vicky Simms gets promoted to associate professor at LSHTM
November 10 2021
Vicky begins this new role with immediate effect. The rest of the group commends her for this achievement and wishing her all the best!
Dr. Chido Dziva Chikwari gets appointed as assistant professor at LSHTM
November 10 2021
As of 15th November, post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Chido Dziva Chikwari, begins her new position as an assistant professor at the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology within the Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The Mabvuku High School science club field trip series
October 30th & November 6th 2021
In school engagement (Mabvuku High School), the science club curriculum began its series of student field trips to the BRTI laboratories. These field trips will serve as career guidance to expose students to biomedical science and laboratory settings. Core activities includes touring the molecular and microbiology departments to learn about PCR testing and blood sampling.
Research Fellow, Mandi Tembo, receives the Southern Hemisphere Award
October 27 2021
SAHM (Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine) issued this award as recognition for her work in menstrual hygiene research & public health activism.
Y-Check Study launches ‘Zve Hutano’ Competition
October 18 2021
This is a health crowdsourcing competition aimed at youth ages between 10 to 19 years. The competition is themed on adolescent health and wellbeing to encourage regular health check-ups among youth and calling for entries in the music and design categories. The study will be assisted by a team enthusiastic youth champions working in Chitungwiza to gain entries. The best candidates will enter the next phase of the competition which is a Hackathon (in December) that will see them developing the Y-Check brand through logo design and theme song creation.
Researchers present at Annual Medical Research Day 2021
October 16 2021
A handful of our researchers and public health professionals delivered impactful presentations themed around the COVID19 pandemic. These talks reflected this year’s theme in celebrating healthcare professionals’ efforts in rolling out the COVID vaccination programme.
Dr. Chido Dziva Chikwari won the National AIDS Council Prize for the best HIV paper covering the Zimbabwe National HIV programme priority areas. For the social science paper category, Nyasha Buwu, won the Michael Gelfand Prize.
‘A Focus on Zimbabwe’ public engagement webinar
October 7 2021
A closer look at the public engagement projects in Zimbabwe that are currently running under the Wellcome Trust Enrichment Grant to enlighten our stakeholders (MSc & PhD students, public health professionals and LSHTM Centres) on the novel ways we are engaging young people in science and research. We took centre stage to showcase the Youth Researchers Academy programme, the School Engagement Programme and the Art of Heath Crowdsourcing Competition in an effort to inform, educate and seek opportunities for collaboration to sustain public engagement initiatives in Zimbabwe. This event also featured an engrossing keynote talk from the esteemed infections doctor and BBC broadcaster, Dr. Chris Van Tulleken, on human anatomy.
VITALITY study treatment support group programme
October 9, 16th 2021
The VITALITY study set up this event to encourage and promote good adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) as well as, the VITALITY study drugs. The event was held on two separate weekends (9 and 16 October 2021) to accommodate all participants in keeping with the stipulated COVID-19 guidelines (maximum of 100 people per gathering). On both days, an interactive adherence quiz game where, participants were divided into 5 groups to encourage them to share ideas and help them to learn from each other about the importance of good ART adherence, disclosure, virologic suppression, and knowledge about the VITALITY trial.
Presentations at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Physicians Zimbabwe (NAPAZ)
October 2021
This year’s meeting featured two talks from our researchers titled:
Integrated occupational health services for health care workers in Zimbabwe by Katharina Kranzer
SARS-CoV-2 sero-prevalence in Harare after the first and second wave by Arun Fryatt
Menstruation in the Media.
October 22 2021
In collaboration with the Menstruation Research Network and funded by the Leverhulme Trust, Mandi Tembo, will be presenting on the use of social media as a powerful form of menstrual health advocacy and an educational tool at the “Menstruation and Media Conference” at the University of Sheffield. The conference will focus on media narratives about menstruation and related topics. It will bring together researchers in the fields of journalism and media studies as well as activists.
Prof. Rashida Ferrand gains a Wellcome Trust Doctoral training programme
October 2021
Rashida Ferrand led successful bid for a Wellcome Trust Doctoral training Programme- Global Health Research in Africa Awarded GBP 11,877,508. The programme is a consortium of 5 UK institutions and 6 African Partner institutions in the Gambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The programme will award 5 PHD fellowships per year to health care professionals and 5 matched fellowships to fellows from the African partner institutions over 5 years.
The CHIEDZA trial begins its endline survey.
4 October 2021
As of Monday 4th October 2021, the trial has begun its community cross-sectional survey in Harare province. The survey will focus on young people of ages between 18 to 24 years, living in the CHIEDZA intervention and non-intervention clusters. A total of 16800 randomly selected youth will be surveyed (700/cluster).
The survey will measure CHIEDZA’s primary outcomes in particular, the proportion of clients with an HIV viral load <1000 copies/ml after a two- and half-year intervention. For STICH (STIs in CHIEDZA) the proportion of clients with a positive test for Chlamydia, gonorrhoea or trichomoniasis. In the first three days nearly 300 participants have been recruited.
A Million Girls Foundation Champion.
October 2021
Mandi Tembo becomes a ‘A Million Girls Foundation champion’. The A Million Girls Foundation is a South African foundation focused on empowering young girls and young women to attain their own economic and financial freedom. As a champion, Mandi Tembo is part of a diverse group of individuals from various top Educational, Legal and Financial professions chosen to represent an organization with a deep passion for the development and education of young African girls.
Professional Development Programme on Adolescent Health begins in Harare.
4 October 2021
The inaugural Professional Development Programme on Adolescent Wellbeing started this week. This is a new modular 18-month course for programmers and policymakers working across different sectors, jointly developed and supported by the University of Zimbabwe, LSHTM and the Biomedical Research and Training Institute. The programme is participatory and will see participants develop, implement and evaluate a “change project” across the 18 months to improve adolescent well-being.
Fractures E3 study begins recruitment into work package 2.
September 2021
The Wellcome-funded multi-country Fractures E3 study aiming to investigate the epidemiology, economics and ethnography of fragility fractures in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Gambia, has started recruiting into work package 2 – recruiting individuals with incident hip fractures.
Youth Researchers Academy Dissemination Meeting Update.
30 September 2021
A Hybrid (in person & virtual) dissemination meeting with stakeholders for the Youth Researcher Academy was held in Harare. Youth Researchers presented their projects and the meeting specifically showcased how these findings had changed practice. 9 youth researchers have now been employed by the Zim-LSHTM Partnership and CESHARR (Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research Zimbabwe).
To find out more about the Youth Researchers Academy and research projects visit: https://www.chiedza.co.zw/youth-researchers-academy
Public engagement work gets showcased at LSHTM week.
7 September 2021
The group received an opportunity to showcase its public engagement portfolio at LSHTM week earlier this month. The MARCH Centre presented the Youth Researchers Academy (YRA) & the Art of Health Competition (AOH) which was led by Mandikudza Tembo and Tino Mavimba, while the TB Centre presented the School Engagement program by Mufaro Makuni and Prof. Katharina Kranzer. Learn more about our public engagement projects here:
https://www.vitality-trial.co.uk/public-engagement
https://www.erase-tb.co.uk/publicengagement
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/zimbabwe-group#public-engagement
Fractures E3 begins in Zimbabwe, protocol training
September 6 2021
Fractures E3 (FE3) study begins training its team in Zimbabwe through its various work packages. FE3 is an international mixed methods study seeking to investigate the epidemiology, economic impact, and ethnography of fractures in Gambia, Zimbabwe & South Africa.
CHIEDZA study begins training staff for end line survey
September 6 2021
The study begins a two-week training program that covers identification of clusters, household enumeration, consenting procedures, data management and other essential procedures within the survey.
Postdoctoral fellow, Chido Dziva Chikwari, becomes an elected PLOS Global Health Editorial Board Member
27 August 2021
Dr Chido Dziva Chikwari, is now an editorial board member of the PLOS Global Health Journal which is a new open access public health research journal that broadens the range of global perspectives we learn from to advance the health of all humankind.
Prof. Rashida Ferrand joins the CDC-Africa SAGE (Strategic Advisory Group of Experts) for COVID19
6 August 2021
Rashida becomes a member of this committee that meets on a monthly basis to provide policy guidance on the pandemic to CDC-Africa.
PhD fellow, Tinotenda Taruvinga’s mock upgrading process has been granted a pass.
17 August 2021
On Wednesday the 11th of August, PhD fellow, Tinotenda Taruvinga, presented his PhD mock upgrading presentation titled, “Understanding the indirect effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on health care service provision and usage in Zimbabwe – a case study of maternal and child health services” which was subsequently granted a pass. A heartfelt congratulations to our student!
An update on the Crowdsourcing at LSHTM event.
August 12 2021
The theme of this event was crowdsourcing and its increasing popularity as a method to solving social problems. Stakeholders got the opportunity to learn about the overall crowdsourcing work at LSHTM as well as benefitting from an informative ‘Pecha Kucha’ presentation delivered by Ms. Tino Mavimba about the Art of Health Competition.
The Group moves to bigger offices!
August 2 2021
As of Monday 2nd August 2021, the group has moved to a larger premise to accommodate more staff members and upcoming projects. A warm thanks to our administration team and staff members that volunteered to take on this strenuous task thus making the move swift!
CHIEDZA study hosts the Menstrual Health & Hygiene Product Choice and Pain Management Focus Group Discussion.
August 3 2021
The study hosted a select group of female cohorts (aged 16-24years) to discuss the effects of COVID-19 on menstrual health & hygiene, what young women consider “period pain” and subsequent techniques to managing it as well as their menstrual product choices and inherent patterns.
Justin Dixon begins the Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship in Humanities & Social Sciences
July 19 2021
Justin has begun his fellowship titled “Multimorbidity and knowledge architectures: An Interdisciplinary Global Health Collaboration” which aims to weave together the emerging threads of multimorbidity-related thinking across various disciplines and fields to establish a wide range of perspectives in the global south. The research will utilise participatory methods to generate data.
VITALITY Zimbabwe team visits VITALITY clinic in Zambia to ensure study synergies.
29 June 2021
Three of our Zimbabwe based VITALITY study members: Nyasha Dzavakwa (Trial Co-ordinator), Vicky Simms (Trial Statistician) and Cynthia Kahari (PhD fellow & Radiographer) are touring the VITALITY clinic at the University of Zambia Teaching Hospital. The mandate of this visit is to address trial implementation issues to ensure synergy across both study sites.
Dr. Aoife Doyle moves to Zimbabwe to lead the Y-Check Study
Tuesday 8th June 2021
Dr Aoife Doyle, Associate Professor in Epidemiology at LSHTM, has as of late moved to Harare to lead the Y-Check study. Aoife, who has been a part of the Zim-LSHTM Group since 2018, has been granted a 4-year UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship to create, carry out and assess a young adult check - up visit program in Chitungwiza.
Y-Check will involve the screening and treatment/referral of adolescents for important conditions through health check-up visits at two key time points during adolescence: early adolescence (10-13y) and mid/late adolescence (16-19y). Adolescents will only be screened for conditions with an accurate and acceptable screening test and a locally-accessible effective intervention e.g., mental health, HIV, vision, hearing, and anaemia. The package of services will include risk reduction counselling and general health information and counselling.
This study follows on from successful multi-country formative work on check-up visits in 2019/20 led by WHO, Geneva in partnership with Zim-LSHTM, Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit/National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania, and the University of Ghana.
The Menopause Study Workshops
1,3 June 2021
The Menopause Study (Improving experiences of the menopause for women in Zimbabwe and South Africa: co-producing an information resource) ran two workshops to evaluate an information resource about the menopause for women in Zimbabwe. Workshops included around 10 women from Harare aged 49-60 years. Participants thought the resource was useful, easy to understand and helped address the taboo around menopause. They also suggested several ways of improving and sharing the resource. Information collected will be used to modify the resource and develop dissemination strategies.
PhD research fellow, Mandi Tembo, co-hosts LSHTM’s first ever Instagram Live and looks at menstrual health
May 28th 2021
As a member of the MARCH leadership team, Mandi Tembo, co-hosted a Menstrual Hygiene Day event on LSHTM’s Instagram channel to answer MH-related questions on the following issues:
-
Menstrual hygiene and disability
-
Menstrual health and education
-
Menstrual health, human rights and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene)
Link to recording: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPamNNbF8rh/.
Menstrual Health Integration within SRH Services
May 26th 2021
As SRH taskforce co-lead for the African Coalition for Menstrual Health Management (ACMHM), Mandi Tembo played an active role in the curation of the of the SRH section of the Menstrual Health Symposium. Mandi Tembo also presented her research findings during the main plenary session on “Integrating Menstrual Health into Sexual and Reproductive Health Policies and Programmes” on May 26th
Link to presentation: https://esaro.unfpa.org/en/video/africa-coalition-menstrual-health-symposium-2021-day-2
PhD research fellow, Mandi Tembo, presents on menstrual health integration within SRH services and on body automony at the Menstrual Health Symposium 2021
May 25th 2021
On Wednesday the 11th of August, PhD fellow, Tinotenda Taruvinga, presented his PhD mock upgrading presentation titled, “Understanding the indirect effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on health care service provision and usage in Zimbabwe – a case study of maternal and child health services” which was subsequently granted a pass. A heartfelt congratulations to our student!
ICAROZ study presents at National Infection Prevention & Control Conference (Gweru).
May 2021
Body Autonomy Presentation
PhD research fellow, Mandi Tembo, spoke on a panel looking to explore and discuss the linkages between body autonomy and menstrual health (MH). In particular, Mandi spoke about The Bleed Read (www.thebleedread.com) and what works to advance menstrual health and body autonomy: the role of policy making, access to information, women’s activism and innovation
The CORD study led by Dr. Edith Majonga begins
June 1st 2021
As of June 1st 2021, the Characterisation Of caRdiac Disease in adolescents with perinatally-acquired HIV infection in the antiretroviral therapy era (CORD study) begins. This study is being led by EDCTP Career Development Fellow, Dr Edith Majonga and will last for 30 months. The main goal of the study is to investigate cardiac structural and functional disease, and underlying pathophysiology among adolescents aged 10-19 years, with perinatal HIV using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and panel of cardiac, fibrosis and inflammatory biomarkers. Findings will give insight on the pathophysiological process of HIV-associated myocardial disease and inform interventional strategies to improve long-term health of adolescents with HIV.
Art of Health Competition completes its mentorship stage
15- 30th May 2021
The Art of Health Mentorship stage comprised of workshops which ran over three weekends from 15 – 30 May. The workshops took place in Harare and were attended by the design top 12 finalists, Drama top 12 finalists and Music top 15 finalists. During these workshops, finalists were: introduced to effective health messaging, expanding their creativity, introduced to new mediums of creative expression, educated on the history of art, music and drama, branding, styling, self-promotion, social media management and introduced to the country’s leading creatives in drama/film, music, art/design.
Science club activities gains momentum at Mabvuku High School
April 30th, May 28th 2021
The science club initiative of the school engagement programme has begun. Two sessions have been hosted where students had the opportunity to brainstorm ideas in science and start to develop science projects for the forthcoming science fair.
Announcing the Africa Day YRA Virtual Event: The Youth Researchers Academy - youth focused research in Africa webinar at LSHTM.
Wednesday May 26th 2021
In celebration of Africa Day 2021, LSHTM will hosting a webinar looking into the methods, learnings, and outcomes from the Youth Research Academy (YRA) led by our research group. The event will take place on Wednesday the 26th May 2021 from 0930 to 1030hrs (UK time). For more access visit the link:
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/events/youth-research-academy-youth-focused-research-africa
Youth Researchers Academy 2-week residential programme takes off.
May 3-14 2021
Our new cohort of youth researchers have been selected for this year’s Youth Researchers Academy and are undergoing training at the residential programme we have organised for them at Manna Resorts in Harare. This is a 2-week training programme geared towards training our young people in youth-led research and equipping them with the skills necessary for them to conduct research. This training will expose them to research processes that includes forming relevant research questions, planning and conducting data collection (qualitative & quantitative research methods), data analysis, and the dissemination of research findings (public engagement & advocacy).
Youth Researchers Academy 2021 interviews for new cohort of youth researchers.
Wednesday 21 April 2021
On this day we took the opportunity to interview for our new cohort of youth researchers from a pool of shortlisted candidates. The candidates underwent face to face interviews and group work assignments to assess their personal motivations and their ability to work well in team settings.
ICAROZ Study IPC Workshops
March – May 2021
Ongoing IPC workshops the study has been engaging with healthcare workers at various polyclinics in Harare (Rutsanana, Rujeko, Mabvuku, Kambuzuma, Budiriro & Hatcliffe polyclinics to name a few). Some of the session themes covered: waste management, environmental cleaning, occupational health, PPE clothing, patient screening & triaging, linen management and decontamination of patient equipment.
PhD research fellow, Mandi Tembo, gets selected as a finalist for the Youth Engagement in HIV Research in Africa event.
Thursday 8th April 2021
A webinar event being organized by AHISA in partnership with 4YouthByYouth intended to review themes submitted to a crowdsourcing open call on youth HIV research engagement. PhD research fellow has been selected as one of the finalists for this event who is representing the Zim-LSHTM research group. The meeting will take place on Thursday, 22 April at 9am-10am ET / 2pm-3pm Lagos.
Registration link: https://nih.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIscO2vqD8uGnznaGUM0zcR6f0iH6g9vY4
School engagement programme begins with science club preparations underway
Friday 26th March 2021
The Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Grant (programme) includes a school engagement programme geared towards secondary school level students that have a passion for science in which we create an environment for them stimute their minds to create scientific projects in a structured fashion. Setting up the science clubs helps to achieve this objective and we are currently working science teachers and students from Mhuriimwe Highfield & Mabvuku High Schools. Preparatory meetings have been held and we expect to start the science clubs in mid-April.
Dr Kevin Martin and Dr Claire Calderwood awarded with Wellcome Fellowships.
Friday 26th March 2021
Our two researchers will join the Zim-LSHTM Group in Sept 2021.
VITALITY study trial coordinator gets accepted for MSc programme at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Tuesday 2nd March 2021
The work package 1 trial coordinator, Tadios Manyanga, gets accepted to study an MSc programme in Clinical Trials at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Heartfelt congratulations for this achievement!
ERASE-TB study begins recruitment.
Tuesday 2nd March 2021
As of the 2nd of March, the study has successfully enrolled its first index case at Mbare Polyclinic. Index cases will help to locate household contacts which the study also targets to reach 700 in its first year.
MaCoCo Study (Maximising benefit & minimising the harm of cov2 control measures on child & women's health in four sub-Saharan African countries) study trains new team of research assistants.
Thursday 18 February 2021
The study held its induction training for newly selected research assistants ahead of recruitment. This was followed by the first stakeholder meeting purposed to introduce stakeholders to Harare, getting an overview of the COVID-19 response and guidance on best data collection strategies.
We celebrate our women in science for International Day of Women & Girls in Science.
Tuesday 9 February 2021
Tuesday 9 February 2021
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee at LSHTM has selected three of our women in science for their collection of nominees of inspirational women and girls in science.
Ethel Dauya – Group field manager & CHIEDZA study trial coordinator.
Vicky Simms – Epidemiologist & statistician.
Chido Dziva Chikwari – PhD student, research fellow & CHIEDZA study Bulawayo coordinator.
VITALITY trial protocol training
11- 18 January 2021
The VITALITY clinical team underwent the general study training that involved covering the study protocol, clinical practicals, blood testing and pharmacy procedures.
ELMA foundation donates USD470,000 to decentralise COVID19 care across all provinces of Zimbabwe.
Monday 11 January 2021
Rashida Ferrand will be leading a team that will train doctors and nurses on COVID management in each province.
The GIFT study receives funding from EDCTP
Monday 11 January 2021
The GIFT study (Genital InFlammation Test for HIV prevention and reproductive health: point-of-care cytokine biomarker lateral flow test for asymptomatic inflammatory sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and bacterial vaginosis (BV)) takes off as EDCTP funds it with €3.5 million.