Professor Keith Klugman (Head of Division), Dr Gail Rodgers (Senior Program Officer) and Ms Kristin Savage (Strategy Officer) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Pneumonia Division recently made a 5-day visit to MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM. Prior to their arrival in Basse, the team landed in Dakar and were accompanied by Dr Grant Mackenzie on a visit to Institut pour Recherché de Development (IRD) and Institut de Recherché Epidemiologique et Surveillance en Santé et Formation (IRESSEF) in Senegal. The team travelled to the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM’s field station in Basse and visited the Pneumococcal Vaccine Schedules (PVS) study sites in Kulari and Sabi, where they had interactions with the staff and inspected the procedures and facilities. Discussions were mainly centered on study design and implementation. They were then taken on a tour to the Basse District Hospital and saw procedures for clinical evaluation of patients and the study’s electronic medical record system. The BMGF team then visited the Bansang Hospital before proceeding to MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM Fajara site. Dr Ed Clarke hosted the team on a visit to the Pneumosil trial site in Brikama.

Professor Klugman held a seminar presentation on vaccines to prevent pneumonia and neonatal sepsis. The team held meetings with Professor Umberto D’Alessandro MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM Director, Professor Beate Kampmann, Dr Ed Clarke and other Unit scientists