Kathryn Maitland: Improving childhood mortality with limited resources
Channel: Tropical Medicine Oxford
Date: 2020-10-27

Professor Kathryn Maitland from KWTRP (KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme) in Kilifi, Kenya, tells us about her research leading clinical trials to improve childhood mortality in low and middle income countries.
To improve outcome for critically ill children, healthcare workers need to be trained to better work together. In addition, guidelines are often quite strict but not always tested by clinical trials. Fluid interventions for critically ill children with severe malaria or sepsis in African hospitals actually worsen the outcome. Researchers working in large consortia can also make better impact for patients and to policy makers.