Department of Pediatrics

Where We Work - eSwatini

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Research

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In 2013, the Global TB Program was instrumental in the awarding of the prestigious American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Burroughs Wellcome DSCF4688Trust Post-Doctoral Fellowship to an adult Infectious Disease Fellow at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Andrew DiNardo. The director of the Global TB Program, Dr. Anna Mandalakas acts as Dr. DiNardo’s co-mentor for this fellowship. Dr. DiNardo is conducting his research at the Baylor-eSwatini TB Center of Excellence and works closely with key members of the BIPAI Swazi team at the TB clinic throughout the process. His research interests include the Immunologic effect of helminth infection on HIV and TB specific immunity.

The Global TB program is collaborating with a number of investigators from other institutions in eSwatini in the areas of behavioral and epidemiologic study. The TB program collaborates with Dr. Lisa Adams from Dartmouth College to develop and conduct a study of Primary Care Givers and adolescents to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to Isoniazid Preventive Therapy adherence at the Baylor-eSwatini COE.

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TB REACH : The Butimba Project

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One of the most important projects with a community-based intervention and operational research component is the WHO supported Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative. This programmatic and operational research funding was provided to increase early detection of TB cases in high HIV burden settings through innovative approaches.

The Global TB Program was selected from a large competitive pool of applicants to receive funding for two large projects from the Stop TB Partnership. The web-based database was created has been operationalized for data entry and analysis on a multinational setting. These efforts broaden our research platform to support a variety of new research collaborations.

The TB Program increased capacity building and diagnostics by purchasing a Gene Xpert machine at the Baylor–eSwatini Center of Excellence and expanding sputum induction procedures to increase case detection across Lesotho. The TB Program is conducting operational program interventions with symptoms screening and household contact tracing for patients presenting to Baylor–eSwatini COE and Baylor-Lesotho COE.