News

Between 22 and 24 February, the International Symposium on ‘Streptococcus agalactiae’ Disease took place in Nairobi, Kenya. PROTECT partners were strongly represented and contributed to the event with insights from all key aspects of PROTECT’s research: pregnancy registry development, GBS disease surveillance, and vaccine confidence and maternal vaccine trial participation.

On 26 February, Aga Khan University, a PROTECT partner, hosted a stakeholder engagement event in Nairobi, convening leaders in maternal health to strengthen collaboration and define actionable next steps for maternal vaccine policies and practices in Kenya.

This year’s International Symposium on ‘Streptococcus agalactiae’ Disease (ISSAD) is an exciting opportunity for all GBS researchers to share their recent work and connect with leaders in GBS research, vaccine development, and public health. PROTECT partners and collaborators are at the heart of this community and will contribute throughout the event, from chairing sessions to speaking at plenaries and presenting posters.

On 9 – 10 December 2025, the 3rd Kilifi County Scientific Symposium took place, bringing together public health researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers. Onesmus Wanje presented a PROTECT poster on the role of trust in maternal vaccine uptake.

Dr Eve Nakabembe, PROTECT Scientific Lead, received an Outstanding Research Award at City St George’s University’s Research Days. In her presentation, she highlighted her ongoing work on maternal vaccination, including research conducted as part of PROTECT.

On 26 November 2025 the MU-JHU team met with the leadership of the Ministry of Health of Uganda to update them on ongoing work across all PROTECT work packages and to discuss strategies for strengthening Uganda’s readiness for future maternal vaccine introduction.

For World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2025, we spoke with Dr Sergio Massora, the researcher leading PROTECT’s work on Group B Streptococcus (GBS) surveillance. In our video interview, he reflects on how the issue of growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can be addressed and how PROTECT is contributing to these efforts.

On 11 – 12 September, members of the IMPRINT network gathered in Muldersdrift, South Africa. Several PROTECT researchers are part of the IMPRINT network and joined the community in sharing the milestones in the recent maternal and neonatal vaccines research.

Globally, only a fraction of clinical trials are conducted in Africa. The reasons for this are varied and include limited funding, inadequate research infrastructure, and a lack of trained personnel. PROTECT aims to tackle these barriers and demonstrate how low- and middle-income countries can set up electronic health records, collect quality data, and eventually take part in clinical trials.

PROTECT partners are supporting medical sites in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Uganda to collect data on GBS disease. Before the start of the sample collection, Dr Sergio Massora from Fundação Manhiça visited partners in other countries to hold training sessions and inspect the sites.