George Mtove

Host institution:              National Medical Research Institute, Korogwe, Tanzania; Prof John Lusingu and Dr Daniel Minja        

Supervisor:                      Assoc Prof Michael Alifrangis

Co Supevisors:                Assist Prof Christentze Schmiegelow and Prof Thor Grundtvig

Study Title: The effect of malaria and sexually transmitted infections/reproductive tract infections during pregnancy on foetal growth, pregnancy outcomes and post-natal growth trajectories

 

Research Hypothesis

The PhD hypothesis is that weight will reduce rapidly during the first days of life and will increase by the end of the first week of life but at a slower rate than observed in high income countries. It is also hypothesized that malaria in pregnancy (MIP) or sexually transmitted /reproductive tract infections (STIs/RTIs) will have detrimental effect on foetal growth, newborn anthropometrics, and post-natal growth. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that co-infections with MIP and STIs/RTIs may have synergistic or additive harmful effect on foetal growth, newborn anthropometrics, and post-natal growth.

 

Research Objectives

  • To assess the daily change in weight during the first week of life among breastfed newborns in Tanzania.
  • To assess the effect of malaria in pregnancy on foetal growth trajectories, preterm delivery, and perinatal death.
  • To assess the effect of STIs/RTIs on foetal growth trajectories, preterm delivery, and perinatal death.
  • To assess if there is a synergistic or additive effect of malaria in pregnancy and STIs/RTIs on foetal growth, preterm delivery and perinatal death.
  • To assess the effect of malaria in pregnancy and STIs/RTIs on growth trajectories from birth to 6 weeks of age.

Profile

George is a research scientist with degree in Medicine (MD) from University of Dar es Salaam, MSc-Epidemiology from LSHTM and he was awarded a postgraduate diploma in Tropical Medicine by the Royal College of Physician (UK).
George joined as a permanent staff of National Institute for Medical Research in 2006. Since then, he have been fortunate to work within the Joint Malaria Programme framework, based at Amani Centre in Muheza on clinical studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). George was a local principal investigator leading a team of research assistants to collect clinical data, in addition I was responsible for the integrity of these studies and IRB reporting or submission. Experience gained from these studies has been very rewarding and has given George a definite career direction.
George decided to undertake the PhD training fellowship in order to develop more skills to conduct clinical studies and RCTs. george believes that undertaking this PhD course will suit him in this role and in his future career goals i.e. to be able to design and conduct high quality and innovative research. George is strongly motivated to learn and  wanted to join the IMPROVE consortium because of its broad network of collaboration and reputation, and the EDCTP programme has an excellent international recognition. George was also inspired by the trial aim to assess if the new IPTp strategy with combination of Antimarial drug with an antibiotic will improve pregnancy outcomes.

Linked Activities and Supervisors

Research Partners