Bandim Health Project

The Bandim Health Project operates in one of the world’s poorest countries, Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. The core of the project is a demographical surveillance system which registers more than 90,000 people in 5 suburbs of the capital Bissau. Information on health, diseases, immunisations, breast-feeding, etc is collected, primarily focusing on women and children. Admissions to the country’s sole pediatric ward in the capital are recorded.

History

The Bandim Health Project was initiated in 1978 with the aim of improving child survival in Guinea-Bissau. The project is currently based on collaboration between the Ministry of Health, Guinea-Bissau, Statens Serum Institut in Denmark, and researchers affiliated to Copenhagen University, and University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Fields of research

The Bandim Health Project works with population based health research, focusing on women and children. The project’s fields of research include:
* Vaccines, both their specific effects on the targeted diseases, and their potential non-targeted effects on morbidity and mortality.
* Other health interventions, including assessment of the total impact on mortality of new interventions or changes in existing policies.
* Infectious diseases, e.g. measles, diarrhoea, rotavirus, respiratory infections, malaria, HIV, HTLV, and Tuberculosis.
* Nutrition, including micronutrients such as vitamin A supplementation, and breast-feeding.
* "'Humanitarian aid.

Important results

One of the most important findings was that a new measles vaccine used in low-income countries was associated with a two-fold increase in mortality among girls. This discovery led to the withdrawal of the vaccine. Had it not been withdrawn, it could have cost at least ½ million additional female deaths per year in Africa alone. [Aaby, P., et al. "Differences in female-male mortality after high-titre measles vaccine and association with subsequent vaccination with diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and inactivated poliovirus: reanalysis of West African studies." Lancet 361.9376 (2003): 2183-88.] [Aaby, P. "Being wrong in the right direction?" Lancet 364.9438 (2004): 984.]

The organization

The Bandim Health Project is led by Peter Aaby [http://www.ssi.dk/sw18358.asp] . Since the project’s foundation in 1978, more than 450 scientific articles have been published, and 31 PhD or doctoral degrees and 13 Masters of International Health degrees have been obtained by researchers employed by the project.

Affiliations

Bandim Health Project is a co-founder of the Graduate School in International Health at Copenhagen University.The Bandim Health Project is a member of The ENRECA (ENhancement of REsearch CApacity) Network [http://enrecahealth.ku.dk] . The Project is also part of Centre for International Health [http://www.cisu.dk/ CISU] at Copenhagen University, and of The INDEPTH Network, a network of demographical surveillance sites in Africa and Asia [http://www.indepth-network.org] . Furthermore, the project collaborates closely with Aarhus University and several international research institutions.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bandim.org Official website]