By Mariama Jallow
Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit, The Gambia has launched a two-year project on Prevention and Treatment for Covid-19 Associated Severe Pneumonia in the Gambia.
The launch events were held on Tuesday, 1 December, and Wednesday, December 2, 2020 at the Brikama District Hospital and Bundung Maternal and Child Health Hospital (BMCHH), respectively.
The PaTS project aims to ensure that people get tested of Covid-19 in order to reduce the spread of the virus in the households or compounds or communities, and make sure that people infected with the virus are given treatment at their homes, while patients that are very sick would be kept at the MRC Unit or Government treatment centers to be cared for until their discharge.
Targeting Brikama District Hospital and Bundung Maternal and Child Health Hospital, the treatment would be performed in a form of drug trial by MRC workers using two types of drug, namely Ivermectin and Aspirin.
The head of West Coast Region, Governor Lamin Sanneh Region speaking at the event in Brikama, noted it marked the beginning of an intervention for the MRC prevention and care of Covid-19 patients in the Gambia.
Describing the Gambia as polygamous where people live extensively as family members and share many things in common, the Governor said globally, Covid-19 has affected many people lives and Gambia is not an exception. But with the help of the government and its partners, the country was able to respond positively to bring the number of cases down, he added.
Sanneh commended the MRC Unit for the move, stating that the Gambia Government can’t do it alone and therefore, partners like MRC are needed.
Dr. Effua Usuf of MRC Unit, The Gambia, noted that corona has become a household name now, and more than 60,000 people had been infected with Covid and close to 1.5 million people died of the virus, globally.
“In the Gambia, we have over 3000 cases. When the virus started newly, it was a challenge for scientist to understand what is happening and to be able to respond appropriately to treat and take care of patients,” she stated.
According to her, the project is going be in form of a study of drug trial where two types of drugs (ivermectin and Aspirin) would be used in the treatment and prevention measures.
Dr. Usuf added they would be monitoring the people that they are going to treat, to see how they doing and whether the drug is working positively in their system.
“We will also give drug to households contacts to prevent them from getting the disease, and also part of the study is to give prevention packages to communities so that people will be using it as prevention measures,” she told the audience.
She enjoined people to keep washing their hands, maintain social distancing and wear face mask.
Also speaking was MRC Unit’s Dr. Anna Roca-[an infectious disease epidemiologist with significant experience leading research groups in Southern and Western Africa]-, who also talked about what the project intends to do in response to Covid-19 in the Gambia. She seized the moment to urge people to stop stigmatizing Covid victims.
The Nursing Officer-in-Charge of Brikama District Hospital Mr. Lamin Sanyang informed that for many year they [BDH] have been partnering with MRC, acknowledging this is the fourth (4th) project they have been implementing in the Brikama health facility.
While saluting MRC for the partnership, Sanyang challenged Gambians to take Covid-19 seriously and know that the virus is here.
