From 15 to 20 June 2025, the 12th European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Forum (EDCTP) was held in Kigali on the theme: ‘Better health through global research partnerships’.
During this high-level scientific meeting, which brought together researchers from Africa and elsewhere, Dr Ilo DICKO, clinical investigator and research project coordinator at UCRC, gave a presentation on ‘Lessons from the PREVAC-UP study on the Ebola virus vaccine in West Africa: From clinical trial to impact’.
The Ebola virus disease has been a source of health disaster in Central and West Africa. Although Mali has been able to contain the epidemic, it remains on constant alert due to its periodic occurrence in various sub-Saharan African countries.
‘Although vaccines exist, several questions remained regarding their safety and efficacy, including the durability and precocity of the immune responses generated by different vaccination strategies,’ said Dr DICKO.
To tackle these concerns, a large-scale randomised clinical trial involving adults and children aged at least one year was conducted in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali as part of the international PREVAC consortium.
In Mali, the study, which took place in 2018 over a 60-month period, was conducted by the University Clinical Research Center (UCRC) and the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD), with 300 participants.
‘The results of this vaccine trial, which lasted five years and was implemented through voluntary community participation, are very encouraging and demonstrate that these vaccines are safe and well tolerated, and can be administered on a large scale to at-risk populations,’ said Dr Ilo DICKO.
UCRC Communication Office
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