Researching the delivery of health and nutrition interventions for women and children in the context of armed conflict: Lessons on research challenges and strategies from BRANCH Consortium case studies of Somalia, Mali, Pakistan and Afghanistan

Background: The BRANCH Consortium recently conducted 10 mixed-methods case studies to investigate the provision of health and nutrition interventions for women and children in conflict-affected countries, aiming to better understand the dominant influences on humanitarian health actors\u27 programmatic decision-making and how such actors surmount intervention delivery barriers. In this paper, the research challenges encountered and the mitigating strategies employed by the case study investigators in four of the BRANCH case study contexts are discussed: Somalia, Mali, Pakistan and Afghanistan.Discussion: Many of the encountered research challenges were anticipated, with investigators adopting mitigation strategies in advance or early on, but others were unexpected, with implications for how studies were ultimately conducted and how well the original study aims were met. Insecurity was a fundamental challenge in all study contexts, with restricted geographical access and concerns for personal safety affecting sampling and data collection plans, and requiring reliance on digital communications, remote study management, and off-site team meetings wherever possible. The need to navigate complex local sociopolitical contexts required maximum reliance on local partners\u27 knowledge, expertise and networks, and this was facilitated by early engagement with a wide range of local study stakeholders. Severe lack of reliable quantitative data on intervention coverage affected the extent to which information from different sources could be triangulated or integrated to inform an understanding of the influences on humanitarian actors\u27 decision-making.Conclusion: Strong local partners are essential to the success of any project, contributing not only technical and methodological capacity but also the insight needed to truly understand and interpret local dynamics for the wider study team and to navigate those dynamics to ensure study rigour and relevance. Maintaining realistic expectations of data that are typically available in conflict settings is also essential, while pushing for more resources and further methodological innovation to improve data collection in such settings. Finally, successful health research in the complex, dynamic and unpredictable contexts of conflict settings requires flexibility and adaptability of researchers, as well as sponsors and donors

Etude des registres de langue dans l’enseignement universitaire en classe de français et dans la réalité à travers la presse au Mali

The thesis specifically concerns the (French) language registers in the French and Malian press as well as in the written productions of university students in Mali. They were traditionally conceived sometimes as language levels, styles or genres. The approach consists of giving a content to each of these terms and developing our conception of language registers based on genres and more particularly the press genre and its sub-genres. From a methodological point of view, the work is based on the study of different corpus : the various facts of the French and Malian press and of the productions of the students due to 30,000 words per sub-corpus or 90,000 words, the genre French and Malian press policy for 30,000 words per sub-corpus, ie 60,000 words and the international genre of 30,000 words per sub-corpus, ie 60,000 words, which makes a corpus of approximately 210,000 words. The main points studied are the nominal subject sequence and the verb sequence essentially, the spatio-temporal indicators and the lexicon both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. Textual studies were carried out on the same points, this time involving the modalities of participatory or adverbial utterance, the verbal temporal palettes and the plan and the drafting of a text model in order to develop educational proposals allowing to '' improve the writings of university students, in particular student journalists from the Bamako School of Journalism and Communication Sciences.La thèse concerne précisément les registres de langue (française) dans la presse française et malienne ainsi que dans les productions écrites d’étudiants universitaires au Mali. Ils ont été conçus traditionnellement tantôt comme niveaux de langue, styles ou genres. La démarche consiste à donner un contenu à chacun de ces termes et à développer notre conception des registres de langue à partir des genres et plus particulièrement du genre presse et ses sous-genres. Du point de vue méthodologique, le travail s’appuie sur l’étude de différents corpus : les faits divers de la presse française et malienne et des productions des étudiants en raison de 30 000 mots par sous-corpus soit 90 000 mots, le genre politique de la presse française et malienne pour 30 000 mots par sous-corpus soit 60 000 mots et le genre international de 30 000 mots par sous-corpus, soit 60 000 mots, ce qui fait un corpus, de 210 000 mots environ. Les principaux points étudiés sont la séquence nominale sujet et la séquence verbe essentiellement, les Indicateurs spatio-temporels et le lexique aussi bien du point de vue qualitatif que quantitatif. Des études textuelles ont été réalisées sur les mêmes points, impliquant cette fois-ci les modalités d’énoncé participiale ou adverbiale, les palettes temporelles verbales et le plan et la rédaction d’un modèle de texte afin d’élaborer des propositions pédagogiques permettant d’améliorer les écrits des étudiants universitaires en particulier les étudiants élèves journalistes de l’École Supérieure de Journalisme et des Sciences de la Communication de Bamak

Study of language registers in university teaching in French class and in reality through the press in Mali

La thèse concerne précisément les registres de langue (française) dans la presse française et malienne ainsi que dans les productions écrites d’étudiants universitaires au Mali. Ils ont été conçus traditionnellement tantôt comme niveaux de langue, styles ou genres. La démarche consiste à donner un contenu à chacun de ces termes et à développer notre conception des registres de langue à partir des genres et plus particulièrement du genre presse et ses sous-genres. Du point de vue méthodologique, le travail s’appuie sur l’étude de différents corpus : les faits divers de la presse française et malienne et des productions des étudiants en raison de 30 000 mots par sous-corpus soit 90 000 mots, le genre politique de la presse française et malienne pour 30 000 mots par sous-corpus soit 60 000 mots et le genre international de 30 000 mots par sous-corpus, soit 60 000 mots, ce qui fait un corpus, de 210 000 mots environ. Les principaux points étudiés sont la séquence nominale sujet et la séquence verbe essentiellement, les Indicateurs spatio-temporels et le lexique aussi bien du point de vue qualitatif que quantitatif. Des études textuelles ont été réalisées sur les mêmes points, impliquant cette fois-ci les modalités d’énoncé participiale ou adverbiale, les palettes temporelles verbales et le plan et la rédaction d’un modèle de texte afin d’élaborer des propositions pédagogiques permettant d’améliorer les écrits des étudiants universitaires en particulier les étudiants élèves journalistes de l’École Supérieure de Journalisme et des Sciences de la Communication de BamakoThe thesis specifically concerns the (French) language registers in the French and Malian press as well as in the written productions of university students in Mali. They were traditionally conceived sometimes as language levels, styles or genres. The approach consists of giving a content to each of these terms and developing our conception of language registers based on genres and more particularly the press genre and its sub-genres. From a methodological point of view, the work is based on the study of different corpus : the various facts of the French and Malian press and of the productions of the students due to 30,000 words per sub-corpus or 90,000 words, the genre French and Malian press policy for 30,000 words per sub-corpus, ie 60,000 words and the international genre of 30,000 words per sub-corpus, ie 60,000 words, which makes a corpus of approximately 210,000 words. The main points studied are the nominal subject sequence and the verb sequence essentially, the spatio-temporal indicators and the lexicon both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. Textual studies were carried out on the same points, this time involving the modalities of participatory or adverbial utterance, the verbal temporal palettes and the plan and the drafting of a text model in order to develop educational proposals allowing to '' improve the writings of university students, in particular student journalists from the Bamako School of Journalism and Communication Sciences

C\u27est vraiment compliqué: A case study on the delivery of maternal and child health and nutrition interventions in the conflict-affected regions of Mali

Background: Mali is currently in the midst of ongoing conflicts which involve jihadist groups, rebels, and the state. This conflict has primarily centered in the North of the country. Humanitarian actors delivering services in these geographies must navigate the complex environment created by conflict. This study aimed to understand how humanitarian actors make decisions around health service delivery within this context.Methods: The current case-study utilized a mixed methods approach and focused on Mopti, Mali\u27s fifth administrative region and fourth largest in population. Latent content analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts guided by our research objectives and new concepts as they emerged. Indicators of coverage of health interventions in the area of maternal and child health and nutrition were compiled using Mali\u27s National Evaluation Platform and are presented for the conflict and non-conflict regions. Development assistance estimates for Mali by year were obtained from the Developmental Assistance for Health Database compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Administrative data was compiled from the annual reports of Mali\u27s Système Local d\u27Information Sanitaire (SLIS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).Results: Our data suggests that the reaction of the funding mechanisms to the conflict in Mali was a major barrier to timely delivery of health services to populations in need and the nature of the conflict is likely a key modifier of such reaction patterns. Concerns have been raised about the disconnect between the very high administrative capacity of large NGOs that control the work, and the consequent burden it puts on local NGOs. Population displacement and inaccurate estimates of needs made it difficult for organizations to plan program services. Moreover, actors delivering services to populations in need had to navigate an unpredictable context and numerous security threats.Conclusions: Our study highlights the need for a more flexible funding and management mechanism that can better respond to concerns and issues arising at a local level. As the conflict in Mali continues to worsen, there is an urgent need to improve service delivery to conflict-affected populations

Challenges of conducting an international observational study to assess immunogenicity of multiple COVID-19 vaccines.

The International Study on COVID-19 Vaccines to Assess Immunogenicity, Reactogenicity, and Efficacy is an observational study to assess the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines used in Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Indonesia, Liberia, Mali, Mexico, and Mongolia. The study, which has enrolled 5,401 adults, is prospectively following participants for approximately two years. This study is important as it has enrolled participants from resource-limited settings that have largely been excluded from COVID-19 research studies during the pandemic. There are significant challenges to mounting a study during an international health emergency, especially in resource-limited settings. Here we focus on challenges and hurdles encountered during the planning and implementation of the study with regard to study logistics, national vaccine policies, pandemic-induced and supply chain constraints, and cultural beliefs. We also highlight the successful mitigation of these challenges through the team's proactive thinking, collaborative approach, and innovative solutions. This study serves as an example of how established programs in resource-limited settings can be leveraged to contribute to biomedical research during a pandemic response. Lessons learned from this study can be applied to other studies mounted to respond rapidly during a global health crisis and will contribute to capacity for stronger pandemic preparedness in the future when there is a crucial need for urgent response and data collection

Additional file 1 of Nutritional treatment of children 6–59 months with severely low weight-for-age z-score: a study protocol for a 3-arm randomized controlled trial

Additional file 1

The West Africa ICEMR Partnerships for Guiding Policy to Improve the Malaria Prevention and Control

The Mali National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) recently established a phased set of goals for eliminat-ing malaria in Mali by 2030. Over the past decade, the scale-up of NMCP-led malaria control interventions has led to con-siderable progress, as evidenced by multiple malariometric indicators. The West Africa International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research (WA-ICEMR) is a multidisciplinary research program that works closely with the NMCP and its part-ners to address critical research needs for malaria control. This coordinated effort includes assessing the effectiveness of control interventions based on key malaria research topics, including immune status, parasite genetic diversity, insecti-cide and drug resistance, diagnostic accuracy, malaria vector populations and biting behaviors, and vectorial capacity. Several signature accomplishments of the WA-ICEMR include identifying changing malaria age demographic profiles, testing innovative approaches to improve control strategies, and providing regular reporting on drug and insecticide resistance status. The NMCP and WA-ICEMR partnership between the WA-ICEMR and the NMCP offers a comprehen-sive research platform that informs the design and implementation of malaria prevention and control research programs. These efforts build local expertise and capacity for the next generation of malaria researchers and guide local policy, which is crucial in sustaining efforts toward eliminating malaria in West Africa

Design of an observational multi-country cohort study to assess immunogenicity of multiple vaccine platforms (InVITE).

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines have been developed, and the World Health Oraganization (WHO) has granted emergency use listing to multiple vaccines. Studies of vaccine immunogenicity data from implementing COVID-19 vaccines by national immunization programs in single studies spanning multiple countries and continents are limited but critically needed to answer public health questions on vaccines, such as comparing immune responses to different vaccines and among different populations