In February, international members of Promise-Zero met in Eastern province, Zambia, to launch the recruitment of participants. Dr Maria Tonga and Beauty Matoka, from UTH, met with Dr Rachel King (Uganda) and Dr Anaïs Mennecier and Morgane Bivaud (France).
They visited the local teams in Chipata, Katete and Petauke. During that time, they met with the provincial health directors, performed training of local MCH staff, and did multiple site initiation visits.
The MCH staff training courses were an excellent opportunity to meet with the health providers who will implement the Promise-Zero protocol. The Promise-Zero team was able to get precious insights from workers on the ground, and they answered all the questions that could arise.
After the training session, the team went to various MCH (from the control and intervention groups) for site initiation visits. These visits are required to prepare and set up a research site to conduct a study and they are the last step before starting recruitment!
Picture 1 – Site initiation visit at Prisons Health Post, Petauke.
Picture 2 – Promise-Zero team in Katete
Picture 3 – Site initiation visit at St Francis Hospital Affiliated Health Center, Katete