In the latest WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record (pages 233-235), it is noted that SAGE (the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts) considers that the non-specific effects on allcause mortality warrant further research. SAGE recommends that the Immunization and Vaccines related Implementation Research Advisory Committee (IVIRAC) be tasked with providing advice on which priority research questions need to be addressed in order to inform policy decisions, and what kinds of studies and study designs would provide answers to these questions.
Christine Stabell Benn Center Leader, Statens Serum Institut and Professor in Global Health, University of Southern Denmark
I work at the Bandim Health Project, a large health and demographic surveillance system site in the West African country Guinea-Bissau. We follow a population of almost 200,000 people in the capital, and in randomly selected villages in the rural areas. The set-up allows us to monitor the real life impact of health intervention programs. My main interest is in the effect of the child health interventions. I am the head of the Bandim Health Project’s Danish group placed at Statens Serum Institut, and the leader of the Center of Excellence ”Research Center for Vitamins and Vaccines” (CVIVA), established in 2012 with the aim to study the specific and not least non-specific effects of the currently used child health interventions. I am also a professor in Global Health at OPEN, Institute for Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark/Odense University Hospital.
Recent posts by Christine
At its most recent meeting in April 1-3, 2014, the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) discussed the evidence for non-specific effects of vaccines. The discovery that vaccines may have non-specific effects, affecting not only the susceptibility to the target disease, but also to other infectious diseases, was made by the Danish/Guinean Research group at the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bissau more than two decades ago.
PhD student Signe Sørup defends her PhD thesis February 20, 2014 at Statens Serum Institut. Bandim Health Project has found that in low-income countries vaccines have non-specific effects, affecting not only the target disease but also the general health. Signe has tested the hypothesis that these effects are general and also seen in high-income settings. Maybe research done in low-income countries can have major impact in high-income countries.