The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it hopes the ongoing Tumani vaccine trials in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will help answer urgent scientific questions about the current outbreak of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus.
Tumani, which means “hope” in Swahili, is a clinical trial designed to evaluate multiple vaccine candidates within a single research framework.
The trial uses a ring-vaccination approach, targeting contacts of people with confirmed Ebola infections to assess the potential effectiveness of the vaccine candidates.
Led by the DRC government, the trials form part of the country’s broader outbreak response and are managed by the National Institute of Biomedical Research the country’s public health and biomedical research institute.
–Thuto Ngobeni/ ChannelAfric–
