NHRTI · Ndola, Zambia
Current research
Research at NHRTI connects infectious disease, non-communicable disease and the health system. Explore the questions our teams are studying, from laboratory discovery to implementation in communities.
Malaria
15 entriesMalaria is the largest single focus of research at NHRTI. Much of it takes place in Nchelenge District in Luapula Province, where transmission is among the most intense in Zambia, and in Ndola, where the pattern is peri-urban and different. The portfolio runs from the mosquito to the patient: how vectors behave and resist insecticides, how parasites move across borders and acquire drug resistance, which treatments work in which settings, and how to protect pregnant women and young children. Several of these studies have already changed national practice.
PharCide
Compares two artemisinin-based combination therapies in children under five, including their effect on the transmissible stage of the parasite and their protective effect after treatment.
CALINA
A dispersible formulation of artemether-lumefantrine for newborns and infants under 5 kg, a group for whom no dose was previously established.
KALUMA
A new fixed-dose antimalarial combination compared against standard treatment in patients weighing 5 kg and above, with a two-year extension phase for repeated treatment.
SEVUSMART
A safety and dose-finding study of an adjunctive therapy for severe malaria in children, aimed at preventing the parasite from sticking to blood vessel walls.
SMAART and SMAART-MAP
A research consortium on severe malaria in hospitalised children. The first phase characterised how severe malaria presents across several African countries, how quickly it is treated, and what happens to children after discharge. SMAART-MAP continues that work as a multisite adaptive platform trial, testing adjuvant therapies to improve survival.
CHASM
The biology behind the different forms of severe malaria, using genomic and molecular methods to find markers that predict who will do badly.
SEMA ReACT
Pre-referral rectal artesunate followed by full treatment, compared with rectal artesunate alone, in remote areas where onward referral is not possible.
IPTp-SP+
Testing for malaria at the first antenatal visit and treating those who test positive, compared with giving preventive treatment to everyone.
Dragonfly
A point-of-care molecular test that detects malaria in pregnancy and identifies drug-resistance mutations at the same time, without a laboratory.
MOVES
How well the R21 malaria vaccine works in real conditions in a setting with year-round high transmission.
ICEMR
A fourteen-year malaria research programme running across two contrasting settings: Nchelenge in Luapula Province, where transmission is holoendemic, and peri-urban Ndola on the Copperbelt. Its central question is why transmission persists at high levels despite sustained control effort, and it works across entomology, parasite genomics, epidemiology and community behaviour.
Studies and activities within this programme
- Why transmission in Nchelenge stays high despite sustained control
- Characterisation of peri-urban malaria transmission in Ndola
- Evaluation of new indoor residual spray formulations against insecticide-resistant vectors
- Mosquito biting behaviour across districts with contrasting transmission intensity
- Household-centred health education and routine follow-up to improve the use of prevention measures
ZUMBA
Malaria crossing the border into Ndola District: how much is imported, and how much it contributes to local transmission. Preliminary findings show most infections are polyclonal.
Vector bionomics and insecticide resistance
Which mosquito species transmit malaria in Nchelenge, when and where they bite, and what they are resistant to. This work informed the addition of three indoor residual spray compounds to national policy since 2014.
Eave ribbons
Whether insecticide-treated ribbons fitted at the eaves of houses reduce mosquito numbers in a high-transmission area.
Drivers of persistent transmission
Why some individuals and households are bitten and infected far more than others, looking at biological, ecological and social factors.
Tuberculosis
2 entriesNHRTI hosts the tuberculosis reference laboratory for northern Zambia and supports the national tuberculosis control programme with diagnosis, treatment monitoring and drug-resistance surveillance across three provinces. Alongside that service role, our research is developing new ways to detect the disease.
TB breath test
A non-invasive breath test to triage tuberculosis in adults and children, across six sites in Ndola District.
TB reference laboratory
NHRTI's tuberculosis reference laboratory serves Copperbelt, Luapula and North-Western provinces on behalf of the national tuberculosis control programme. This is continuing service delivery rather than a study, and it is what allows drug-resistant tuberculosis in northern Zambia to be identified and managed.
Studies and activities within this programme
- Diagnosis, treatment monitoring and drug-resistance surveillance across three provinces
- Whole-genome sequencing of isolates resistant to first-line drugs, so that treatment can be matched to the confirmed resistance profile
Immunisation
5 entriesZambia's immunisation programme reaches most children. The research question is now about the ones it misses. Our work identifies where immunity gaps remain, tests practical ways of finding under-vaccinated children, and measures what campaigns actually achieve.
School vaccination screening
Measles immunity gaps among children in a school-based screening and catch-up pilot, using dried blood spots from 1,600 pupils across five schools in Ndola.
Measles sero-surveillance study
Measles testing of samples from the national demographic and health survey.
Missed opportunities for vaccination
Where children who reach a health facility still leave without the vaccines they are due.
Post-campaign coverage and seroprevalence
Vaccine coverage and measured immunity among children who took part in a national measles and rubella campaign.
Modelling the value of measles rapid tests
Whether rapid diagnostic tests for measles would be worth deploying in Zambia, answered by modelling rather than by waiting for an outbreak to find out. The question is what earlier and more complete case confirmation would actually change about how quickly the country detects and responds to measles.
HIV
4 entriesOur HIV research focuses on prevention, on treatment outcomes among adolescents, and on using established HIV service platforms to deliver other health interventions to people who are already coming through the door.
REACH
Delivering HPV vaccination to adolescent girls through existing HIV clinic infrastructure, to prevent cervical cancer.
Male circumcision and HIV risk
Population-level analysis of the effect of male circumcision on HIV infection risk.
Family Connections Study
A cluster randomised trial of youth and caregiver support on viral suppression among adolescents living with HIV.
Survey among FSW, MSM and people who inject drugs
HIV prevalence and risk behaviour among key populations in three Zambian cities.
Nutrition
3 entriesMicronutrient deficiency remains a significant contributor to ill health in Zambia. Our nutrition research examines how well different delivery vehicles work, refines the laboratory methods used to measure nutritional status, and studies how supplementation programmes function in practice within antenatal services.
Vitamin A from fortified bouillon
Whether vitamin A added to bouillon is absorbed as well as vitamin A given as an oil-based supplement, and how absorption behaves over time.
Liver reserve cut-offs
Refining the modelling used to estimate total body vitamin A stores and to set the cut-off below which a person is deficient.
Multiple micronutrient supplementation
How to introduce and scale up multiple micronutrient supplements for pregnant and lactating women within existing antenatal services.
Surveillance & Diagnostics
3 entriesThis work is part research and part national service. The same laboratory that characterises pathogens for a study also confirms cases for the health system, which is why NHRTI is able to respond quickly when something new appears.
Multi-pathogen diagnostics programme
A national site for rapid identification of the pathogens causing acute respiratory infection in hospitalised patients, using a panel that screens for 30 organisms at once, with genomic sequencing capability alongside.
Mpox surveillance
Diagnostic testing and confirmation of suspected mpox cases referred from health facilities in the northern region and beyond.
Bacteriology external quality assessment
An in-country bacteriology proficiency testing scheme that lets laboratories across Zambia benchmark their performance. The programme is being developed with attention to ISO/IEC 17043:2023 requirements.
Maternal & Reproductive Health
2 entriesResearch in this area examines infections in pregnancy, the accuracy of tests that can be used at the point of care rather than in a laboratory, and the consequences for mothers and newborns.
Mycoplasma genitalium in pregnancy
How common the infection is among pregnant women attending antenatal care, and whether it shows resistance to first-line treatment.
Point-of-care trichomoniasis testing
Whether a rapid antigen test is accurate enough to replace laboratory testing for trichomoniasis in antenatal clinics.
NCDs, Health Systems & AMR
3 entriesA growing share of the portfolio sits outside infectious disease: antibiotic use and resistance, infection acquired in hospital, and the molecular biology of cancer.
Antibiotic prescribing in children
Antibiotic prescription patterns and the symptoms that prompt them, among children living with HIV in Ndola.
Surgical site infections
How often surgical site infection occurs at three tertiary hospitals on the Copperbelt, and what makes it more likely.
Cancer and molecular biology
Collaborative laboratory work on the gene-regulation mechanisms behind virus-driven cancers and cancers affecting women.
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