CREDO

 Clinical Research During Outbreaks (CREDO)

The Clinical REsearch During Outbreaks (CREDO) training curriculum was developed in 2017 in partnership with the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), to support investigators in Low- and Middle- Income countries (LMICs) to generate clinical evidence during infectious disease outbreaks. The 2017 curriculum’s intended learning outcomes have been mapped to the WHO TDR Core Competencies Framework, which includes the following:

  • Scientific thinking
  • Ethics
  • Quality & Risk management
  • Research Operations
  • Study & Site(s) management

The ISARIC Kumasi Hub in Ghana, hosted CREDO in September 2024

From September 13-15, 2024, a 3-day workshop was held in Big Ada, Ghana, in collaboration with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The workshop brought together 15 participants from the ALERRT Network in Cameroon and Ghana, providing specialised training in outbreak response research. This training equips multidisciplinary teams to tackle regional health threats, with participants currently being mentored as they finalise research plans focusing on Marburg, mpox, and Disease X.

The next CREDO courses will be hosted by the ISARIC Hubs in Karachi (Pakistan), Manilla (The Philippines) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), starting in February and March 2025. These courses will provide outbreak preparedness training, delivered by local training teams for multidisciplinary researchers. 

Read more about CREDO

 

Intended Audience

The CREDO training is intended for clinical researchers and key members of multidisciplinary clinical research teams (clinicians, nurses, data managers). 

How CREDO helps

The CREDO training will provide trainees with a set of skills to lead the research response in an outbreak and as such strengthen the national capacities of LMICs to generate clinical evidence during outbreaks and facilitate networking and the sharing of resources, and thus improve national response to disease outbreaks. 

The curriculum covers the full spectrum of activities that generate clinical evidence from gathering good quality descriptive clinical data right through to clinical trials of experimental therapeutic interventions with a focus on outbreak diseases. 

Overall objectives of CREDO

  • Describe the steps in the planning and implementation of a clinical research study 
  • Explain how an outbreak setting might influence the approach to these steps 
  • Rapidly develop a research plan for an observational study or a clinical trial for a disease of epidemic potential. 

CREDO curriculum

The curriculum consists of several modules which are online and self-paced along with face-to-face workshop sessions. The curriculum contains theory and task-based competencies. Some key modules include: 

  • Clinical research methods for epidemic infections
  • Research planning and governance
  • Ethics of research in health emergencies 

The final workshop and simulation exercise enables participants to put their knowledge into practice in an outbreak scenario. This will help reinforce the learning from e-modules.