Congratulations to the recipients of the 2021/2022 Centre for International Child Health (CICH) Global Health Seed Grants! The purpose of this seed grant is to support the development of high-quality, transformative global health projects that build capacity through global partnerships, enhance global health education, and enhance global health research. This annual competition is funded through the generous support of the BC Children's Hospital Foundation.
Project Title: Global Health Fellowship- Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery: A joint initiative of the University of British Columbia, the University of Rwanda, the Center for International Child Health and the Arrowsmith Global Health Partnership.
Principal Investigators: Anthony Cooper, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Orthopedics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC; Jean Claude Byiringiro, Dean, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Rwanda
Co-Investigators: Marla McKnight, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine; Marianne Vidler, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Summary: The aim of this project is to launch a pilot program that offers clinical fellowship opportunities at BC Children's Hospital for trainees from the University of Rwanda (UR). Pediatric orthopedic surgery is one area with acute unmet needs in Rwanda and has been prioritized by UR and the Rwanda Ministry of Health. The fellowship will match the individual career goals and strengths of fellows and enhance their skills in leadership, program development and research, anticipating that upon return to Rwanda they will be in a position to start developing the field of pediatric orthopedic surgery within Rwanda. This project builds on the University of British Columbia's and UR's established partnership focused on building capacity in health human resources.
Project Title: Development and evaluation of a potential vaccine for prevention of Klebsiella infections in children.
Principal Investigators: Manish Sadarangani, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC; Director, Vaccine Evaluation Center, BC Children's Hospital; Kirsty Le Doare, Principal Scientist, Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda
Summary: The projects aims to inform the development of Klebsiella vaccine suitable for low- and middle-income countries and build genomics and vaccine discovery science in Uganda. Gram-negative bacteria, such as Klebsiella, are the biggest threat and top priority for the World Health Organization. With the increasing prevalaence of antibiotic resistance, immunization is the ideal long-term approach to preventing life-threatening infections caused by Klebsiella. However, current vaccine attempts have been unsuccessful, due to the high diversity of proposed vaccine candidates. This study will combine traditional and novel vaccine development techniques to characterize the molecular epidemiology of Klebsiella infection in children in Uganda, and identify potential proteins on Klebsiella that would be suitable vaccine targets. In the long term, they will use these findings to develop a vaccine that would provide protection against multiple Klebsiella strains, including those that exhibit antibiotic resistance.
