Page 68 - SAMRC Annual Report 2023-24

Maternal and Infant Health
Care Strategies Research Unit

Unit director:
Prof. Ute Feucht

Prioritising responsive research Another ground-breaking research project is
through impactful interventions underway, involving a novel point-of-care test for
neonatal sepsis, currently being piloted in 40 infants.
The final 24-month follow-up visits for the Siyakhula Successful validation of the test would enable
study took place in 2023/2024. This longitudinal prompt identification of neonatal sepsis and enable
study, comprising over 300 infants, investigated how timeous treatment, while minimising the unnecessary
maternal HIV infection and antiretroviral treatment administration of antibiotics to non-septic infants.
affects growth and development throughout the
infants' first 1000 days. Numerous research outputs Sharing our experiences in neonatal care has
are presently under development and it is anticipated been another highlight in 2023/2024, as a team
that the research will give a more comprehensive of paediatricians and nurses have embarked on a
understanding of the impact of maternal HIV project to strengthen neonatal care in eSwatini.
infection on infant growth and development.
Equitable capacity development
One important project in 2023/2024 was the
implementation of the Umbiflow device across for empowering communities
all primary health care clinics providing antenatal Capacity development initiatives primarily include
care in subdistricts 5, 6 & 7 within Tshwane District. the active involvement of our many postgraduate
It is expected that the intervention will reduce the students, who are empowered to contribute to
stillbirth rate in these districts. If successful, the our research activities. Our participants are mostly
implications are that the high incidence of stillbirths recruited from the public healthcare system,
observed in South Africa could be lowered.
enabling our students to engage directly with the
community and uphold the principles of equity
and dignity in healthcare. Furthermore, our studies
often extend additional services to the participants,
beyond routine care, further enhancing the quality
of healthcare delivery.

The routine use of Umbiflow, an innovative
South African invention, in several subdistricts in
Tshwane during 2023/2024 represents a significant
step towards community empowerment and the
advancement of equity and dignity within health
research. By facilitating the detection of placental
The unit's commitment is to provide insufficiency during pregnancy at primary healthcare
relevant solutions for some of South Africa's facilities, where the majority of South Africans
challenges in maternal, newborn and child
health care. receive their antenatal care, this technology has
brought transformative antenatal care to many

66 SAMRC ANNUAL REPOR T 2023-24