For the past 10 years, the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been supporting operational research to provide a stronger evidence base for controlling and moving toward elimination of schistosomiasis. The SCORE portfolio was developed and implemented with engagement from many stakeholders and sectors. Particular efforts were made to include endemic country neglected tropical disease program managers. Examples of the challenges we encountered include the need to balance rigor (e.g., conducting large cluster-randomized trials) with ensuring relevance to real-world settings, allowing for local contexts while standardizing key study aspects, adjusting to evolving technologies, and incorporating changing technologies into multiyear studies. The Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation's findings and data and the collected specimens will continue to be useful in the years to come. Our experiences and lessons learned can benefit both program managers and researchers conducting similar work in the future.
BT - The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene C1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32400350 DA - 05/2020 DO - 10.4269/ajtmh.19-0786 J2 - Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. LA - eng N2 -For the past 10 years, the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been supporting operational research to provide a stronger evidence base for controlling and moving toward elimination of schistosomiasis. The SCORE portfolio was developed and implemented with engagement from many stakeholders and sectors. Particular efforts were made to include endemic country neglected tropical disease program managers. Examples of the challenges we encountered include the need to balance rigor (e.g., conducting large cluster-randomized trials) with ensuring relevance to real-world settings, allowing for local contexts while standardizing key study aspects, adjusting to evolving technologies, and incorporating changing technologies into multiyear studies. The Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation's findings and data and the collected specimens will continue to be useful in the years to come. Our experiences and lessons learned can benefit both program managers and researchers conducting similar work in the future.
PY - 2020 T2 - The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene TI - The Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation 2008-2020: Approaches, Experiences, Lessons, and Recommendations. UR - http://www.ajtmh.org/docserver/fulltext/10.4269/ajtmh.19-0786/tpmd190786.pdf?expires=1589979438&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=F7B6E0C4C17D363F9F5A9D87FAEA437D SN - 1476-1645 ER -