Page 152 - SAMRC Annual Report 2023-24

Participants from GSK in Novartis, and project team members from various African countries gathered
at the SAMRC Cape Town on 6 February 2024 for the 2nd Project Africa GRADIENT workshop.

HeLTI mass divided by height2) in the offspring at age
The SAMRC’s partnership with the Canadian 5-years. Community health workers are delivering
Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the Healthy the intervention randomly to half the cohort by
Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) was renewed for providing health literacy material, dispensing a multi-
a further 5 years in 2022 to enable the research micronutrient supplement, providing health services
teams from South Africa and Canada to continue and feedback, and facilitating behaviour change
an important pre-conception to early childhood support sessions to optimise nutrition, physical
intervention study to prevent obesity and non- and mental health, and lay the foundations for
communicable diseases. This forms part of a broader healthier pregnancies and early child development.
international HeLTI collaboration that includes The project completed its 7th year in 2023/24 and
harmonised intervention studies in South Africa, involves 9 PhDs (4 graduated), 13 postdoctoral
Canada, India and China. The SAMRC is supporting fellows and 15 nested sub-studies and publications.
the South African BUilding Knowledge and a
foundation for HeALthy lIfe trajectories: BUKHALI The SAMRC is also supporting 6 projects at other
Trial led by the University of the Witwatersrand. South African institutions to utilise the HeLTI data
BUKHALI is a randomised controlled trial to test the and samples to address additional priority research
efficacy of a complex continuum of care intervention. questions.
Starting at pre-conception and continuing through
pregnancy, infancy and childhood, the intervention is A highlight in 2023/24 was the convening of the
designed to improve nutrition, physical and mental annual HeLTI Council meeting for the first time
health, and health behaviours of South African in-person since 2019 in Cape Town in April 2023.
women to offset obesity-risk (adiposity) in their Director-General of the World Health Organisation,
offspring. Women aged 18-28 years have been Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, and South African Minister
recruited from Soweto, an urban-poor area of of Health Dr Joe Phaahla attended a short session
Johannesburg. The primary outcome is dual-energy at the meeting and received the headline findings
x-ray absorptiometry derived fat mass index (fat to date from the study to inform policy and practice.

150 SAMRC ANNUAL REPOR T 2023-24