On November 13th, King’s College London joined the University of Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Health in Freetown to celebrate three years of the NIHR-funded Global Health Group CRIBS (UK PI: Prof A. Shennan). This initiative focuses on scalable solutions to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality while building sustainable research capacity in Sierra Leone.
The event, attended by over 100 stakeholders including policymakers, midwives, and community advocates, highlighted key achievements such as the national scale up trial of 2,500 CRADLE blood pressure devices across 700 maternity facilities. The 2YoungLives randomised controlled trial, supporting nearly 400 pregnant teenagers through community mentorship, was also celebrated, with promising lifesaving results submitted for publication.
Research updates showcased three large prospective studies involving over 3,200 women, evaluating novel point-of-care technologies for detecting bleeding, sepsis, pre-eclampsia, and kidney injury—key causes of maternal death. These studies represent the largest of their kind in similar settings and provide vital new evidence for improving outcomes, with huge potential for reserve innovation.
Seven local multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals shared findings from innovative research supported by CRIBS Seed Funding grants. Their studies tackled pressing challenges identified on the frontline, with topics including pregnancy outcomes for disabled mothers, maternal nutrition, access to blood transfusion, and the feasibility of low-dose aspirin use in Sierra Leone.
With £4.9 million additional funding secured from FCDO, CRIBS will continue to foster equitable partnership, impactful solutions and local research capacity to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality where it is most needed.
