Anticipating and strategizing to address potential bottlenecks during clinical research projects in sub-Saharan Africa: a case for adapting approaches and tools used in the entrepreneurial and development sectors.

Many research funders have invested billions of US dollars in building research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite these colossal investments, many well-intentioned and designed clinical research projects have either failed to kick off or ended abruptly. Although obstacles to clinical research in SSA are well known, there is limited information on frameworks and tools that can be used to anticipate and avert these systemic bottlenecks, particularly those related to socio-politics. In this paper, we leveraged lessons from entrepreneurs and development experts in harsh and uncertain business environments to develop a framework for anticipating and addressing potential bottlenecks to clinical research in SSA. More so, to illustrate and build a case for this framework, we shared our experience in supporting clinicians and regulators to adopt a point-of-use care tool, the "chemoPAD," to screen for the quality of anticancer medications rapidly and systematically in Cameroon despite resistance from some stakeholders. The critical steps in this framework involve identifying stakeholders, categorizing them based on their potential reactions to the study (adversary, supporters, and indifferents), and developing critical strategies to engage or deal with each stakeholder's reactions, starting with adversaries. This approach may be useful in complex research projects, especially clinical trials, which often involve many stakeholders with different interests and perceptions.

Functional availability of medical oxygen for the management of hypoxaemia in Cameroon: A nationwide facility-based cross-sectional survey.

Background: Medical oxygen is essential for managing hypoxaemia, which has a multifactorial origin, including acute and chronic lung diseases such as pneumonia, asthma, and severe malaria. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) revealed substantial gaps in the availability and accessibility of safe medical oxygen, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to assess the availability and sources, as well as the barriers to the availability of functional medical oxygen in hospitals in Cameroon. Methods: This was a nationwide cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from 26 March to 1 June 2021. Using a convenient sampling technique, we sampled accredited public and private COVID-19 treatment centres in all ten regions in Cameroon. Representatives from the selected hospitals were provided with a pre-designed questionnaire assessing the availability, type, and state of medical oxygen in their facilities. All analyses were performed using R. Results: In total, 114 hospitals were included in this study, with functional medical oxygen available in 65% (74/114) of the hospitals. About 85% (23/27) of the reference hospitals and only 59% (51/87) of the district hospitals had available functional medical oxygen. Compared to district hospitals, reference hospitals were more likely to have central oxygen units (reference vs. district: 10 vs. 0%), oxygen cylinders (74 vs. 42%), and oxygen concentrators (79 vs. 51%). The most common barriers to the availability of medical oxygen were inadequate oxygen supply to meet needs (district vs. reference hospitals: 55 vs. 30%), long delays in oxygen bottle refills (51 vs. 49%), and long distances from oxygen suppliers (57 vs. 49%). Conclusions: The availability of medical oxygen in hospitals in Cameroon is suboptimal and more limited in districts compared to reference hospitals. The cost of medical oxygen, delays related to refills and supplies, and long distances from medical sources were the most common barriers to availability in Cameroon.

Deployment of vaccine cold chain equipment in resource-limited settings: lessons from the Gavi Cold Chain Optimization Platform in Cameroon.

BACKGROUND: Lack of or use of suboptimal cold chain equipment (CCE) is a major barrier to optimal immunization coverage and equity. Gavi established the CCE optimization platform (CCEOP) in 2015 to help eligible countries modernize their cold chain systems. However, there are limited data on CCE deployment at country level. We present lessons learnt from deploying CCE from the Gavi CCEOP in Cameroon. METHODS: This cross-sectional study collected data on the number of days items of CCE spent at each point on their trajectory from the entry port to 62 randomly selected health facilities in Cameroon. RESULTS: Once equipment arrived at the entry port, it took 10 d for customs clearance, 2 d from customs clearance to warehousing and 257 d (>9 mo) from the warehouse to facilities. Upon arrival at the facilities, it took a median of 53 (range 0-395) d from installation to final commissioning: most of the days (median=210) were spent between installation and final commissioning. The major causes of delays included insufficient coordination and communication across all levels, poor documentation and final commissioning. CONCLUSION: Early engagement on customs clearance, strengthening coordination and communication, ensuring proper documentation, as well as eliminating final commissioning, could significantly improve implementation of the program.