PediCAP trial findings disseminated to Mozambican healthcare community

The PediCAP trial team announced the successful completion of a series of dissemination meetings aimed at sharing trial results with key stakeholders in Mozambique. These meetings targeted a diverse audience, including healthcare professionals, paediatricians, collaborators, policymakers and representatives from the National Bioethics Committee (CNBS) and the National Regulatory Authority for Medicines and Pharmacovigilance (ANARME).

The dissemination efforts commenced at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane Faculty of Medicine, where the team presented findings to a distinguished audience encompassing the Ministry of Health, CNBS, ANARME, and a local representative of the World Health Organization (WHO). Subsequent presentations were delivered at Hospital Central de Maputo, Hospital Central da Beira, and Hospital Central de Nampula, followed by meetings at peripheral recruiting hospitals within Maputo.

The WHO currently recommends that children with severe or very severe pneumonia receive a week of intravenous antibiotics in hospital. PediCAP found that switching to oral antibiotics when a child’s condition improves works as well as continuing with injections and leads to shorter hospital stays. Additionally, the study found that shorter antibiotic treatment courses (as short as four days) are just as effective as longer ones.

The reception to the PediCAP trial results was overwhelmingly positive. Healthcare providers expressed gratitude for the opportunity to access the findings, particularly given their prior involvement in research without subsequent feedback. There was a notable enthusiasm among clinicians to integrate the trial results into their clinical practices.

Furthermore, an abstract on the trial results has been submitted as an oral communication to a local scientific congress organised by the National Institute of Health to be held in September 2024 with the team expecting positive feedback on this submission.

The PediCAP team anticipates that the dissemination of these findings will contribute significantly to advancing paediatric care of children with severe pneumonia.