Principal Investigator: Dr. Honorati Masanja
Project leader/ Coordinator: Dr. Grace Mhalu
Project Administrator: Ritha Godfrey
Funding Partner: European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) through Wits Health Consortium
Start date: April 1, 2024
End date: Sept. 30, 2028
The IMCI+ Consortium: Enhancing Childhood Pneumonia Management with Point-of-Care Ultrasound
The IMCI+ project represents an innovative and interdisciplinary research initiative aimed at improving the management of childhood pneumonia across multiple countries. A collaboration between Pan-African and European Union researchers, this initiative seeks to revolutionize how healthcare providers diagnose and treat childhood pneumonia by integrating point-of-care lung ultrasound (LUS) into everyday clinical practice and health policy.
By incorporating this advanced diagnostic tool, the project aims to enhance the effectiveness of existing pneumonia management protocols and contribute to better health outcomes for children across diverse healthcare settings.
At the heart of the IMCI+ project is the IMCI framework, which stands for Integrated Management of Childhood Illness. This set of guidelines, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, is designed to prevent and treat illnesses in children, including pneumonia, which remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in young children worldwide.
The IMCI guidelines provide specific protocols to ensure that healthcare providers can identify and treat pneumonia in a timely and effective manner. However, while these guidelines offer essential strategies, the incorporation of bedside lung ultrasound through the IMCI+ project adds a new layer of diagnostic precision, allowing for more accurate and immediate assessments of pneumonia in children.
The IMCI+ project is structured with a detailed timeline that outlines key milestones in its development and implementation. The project is set to begin in the second quarter of 2024 with a kick-off meeting, followed by the start of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in the fourth quarter of the same year. This trial will involve 3,500 children diagnosed with IMCI-classified pneumonia. By the third quarter of 2025, the project aims to finalize the PLUS Intervention Package, which will serve as a comprehensive tool for clinicians incorporating lung ultrasound into their practice.
The RCT will conclude in the third quarter of 2026, at which point data collection for Implementation Research (IR) will begin. Additionally, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) models for lung ultrasound interpretation is planned for the second quarter of 2027, with the completion of IR data collection expected in the third quarter of that year. The project will conclude in early 2028, with the dissemination of results and findings.
The consortium behind the IMCI+ project is composed of several distinguished institutions from five countries. The key members include:
- Ifakara Health Institute (Tanzania) – Leading the project in Africa, Ifakara brings expertise in health systems research and implementation science, particularly in child health.
- Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (Tanzania) – A key partner in conducting the randomized controlled trial (RCT) and related clinical studies.
- University of Barcelona (Spain) – Providing advanced research in medical imaging, specifically in point-of-care ultrasound technologies.
- University of Heidelberg (Germany) – Contributing to the development of artificial intelligence models for interpreting lung ultrasound results.
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom) – Supporting the project with data analytics and research expertise in global health.
This consortium enhances the project’s capacity to test and implement lung ultrasound technologies in various healthcare settings, each with different infrastructural and resource constraints. This collaboration is critical to the success of the project, as it facilitates the sharing of knowledge, data, and best practices across continents, with the collective aim of improving child health outcomes on a global scale.
Throughout the study period, it is anticipated that over 10,000 lung ultrasounds will be conducted, providing invaluable data to enhance the management of childhood pneumonia. By the time the project reaches its conclusion in 2028, the IMCI+ project aims to have a significant impact on childhood pneumonia management, providing healthcare providers with more accurate diagnostic tools and contributing to improved health outcomes for children in diverse healthcare settings.
For more information, visit the IMCI+ project page.