CCP Global Toolkit – Malawi

The  Clinical Characterisation Protocol (CCP) is a standardised protocol that enables data and biological samples to be collected rapidly in a globally standardised manner for any severe respiratory infection of public health interest.

Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme used the CCP and developed a low income country eCRF (case report form) to support the Malawi Ministry of Health in diagnostic, secondary care and public health delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers aimed to operationalise Tiers 0, 1 and 2 of the CCP.

Their site is adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, the largest tertiary care centre in Malawi. The site has excellent molecular and immunology laboratory facilities on site and are one of the four currently recognised COVID-19 diagnostic testing centres in Malawi. They aim to leverage these facilities under the ISARIC protocol to understand how COVID-19 impacts on hospitalised patients in Malawi.

Their first priority was staff safety in taking samples and collecting data per patient. They started by establishing  a team of three per patient to collect samples safely and securely.

PPE guidance taken from the UK Governments’ Public Health England Guide ‘Recommended PPE for healthcare workers by secondary care inpatient clinical setting, NHS and independent sector’

The first study using the ISARIC CCP, Distinct clinical and immunological profiles of patients with evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in sub-Saharan Africa, was published in Nature on the 11 June 2021.