December 2, 2024

Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) Phase C aims to assess policymaker preferences on Shigella vaccine characteristics

The Enterics for Global Health (EFGH): Shigella surveillance study was launched in 2022 and aims to establish incidence and consequences of Shigella diarrhea among children 6-35 months in Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Pakistan, Peru, and The Gambia and inform future Shigella vaccine trial planning. The study protocol has been published in a supplement in Open Forum of Infectious Diseases. During Phases A and B, the EFGH Consortium built a robust collaborative research infrastructure to facilitate shared scientific decision making and protocol standardization, and recently completed enrollment of 9,476 participants in August 2024.

Each of the seven EFGH Consortium implementing sites and the UW coordination body received direct funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (“Phase C”) to support results dissemination, site-led secondary data analysis, and implementation science activities to assess vaccine demand and policy maker preferences to maximize likelihood of future Shigella vaccine uptake and adoption. The next phase of the EFGH Consortium will continue to prioritize training and mentoring EFGH investigators across career stages and will leverage the rich dataset as opportunities for investigators to address key scientific questions in the diarrhea field.

We look forward to sharing future updates throughout EFGH Phase C.