FERTILITY CARE IN LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES: Implementing fertility care: insights from a participatory workshop in The Gambia.

Introduction: The Gambia, West Africa, has made recent progress on infertility, a component of sexual and reproductive health that is lagging behind others. Since 2016, there is favourable policy environment stemming from infertility research and partnership building with national stakeholders and local civil society organisations focussing on infertility. Here, we report outcomes from a participatory workshop on infertility policy implementation in The Gambia and provide insights on setting national priorities for fertility care in resource-limited settings.

Introducing assisted reproductive technologies in The Gambia, a survey on the perspectives of Gambian healthcare professionals and medical students.

Background: Infertility remains a global reproductive health burden with the highest prevalence in low and middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, the ability to procreate holds great societal importance. Couples, and particularly women, with infertility can face devastating challenges, leading to social stigma, isolation and/or divorce.

Dry season prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum in asymptomatic gambian children, with a comparative evaluation of diagnostic methods.

Background: Subclinical infection with Plasmodium falciparum remains highly prevalent, yet diagnosing these often low-density infections remains a challenge. Infections can be subpatent, falling below the limit of detection for conventional thick-film microscopy and rapid diagnostic testing (RDT). In this study, the prevalence of subclinical P.

'Bouncing Back' From Subclinical Malaria: Inflammation and Erythrocytosis After Resolution of Infection in Gambian Children.

Recent malaria is associated with an increased risk of systemic bacterial infection. The aetiology of this association is unclear but malaria-related haemolysis may be one contributory factor. To characterise the physiological consequences of persistent and recently resolved malaria infections and associated haemolysis, 1650 healthy Gambian children aged 8-15 years were screened for infection (by 18sRNA PCR) and/or anaemia (by haematocrit) at the end of the annual malaria transmission season (t).

Infectivity of patent Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriers to mosquitoes: establishing capacity to investigate the infectious reservoir of malaria in a low-transmission setting in The Gambia.

Background: Understanding the human malaria infectious reservoir is important for elimination initiatives. Here, we implemented mosquito membrane feeding experiments to prepare for larger studies to quantify the transmission potential and relative contribution of the human infectious reservoir.

Methods: Patients with clinical malaria attending four health facilities with at least 16 Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes per μL were recruited during the 2018 transmission season.