CENTRE FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

CENTRE FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

The Center for Healthcare Research (CHR) hosts the medical research programs for the Baptist Institute of Health Sciences and the CBC Health Services. The CHR has carried out and participated in several ground-breaking research works including the largest ever clinical research in surgery, the Global Covid-19 Surgery Study. It was a study led by the University of Birmingham and has been awarded the Guinness World Records title for the world's largest scientific collaboration, involving over 140,000 patients in 116 countries. There is great potential for developing more partnerships with major research institutions to address medical priorities in Cameroon.

More Information about CENTRE FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) 

The IRB was founded in 2001 and has been closely associated with the residency training programs at Mbingo.  The IRB is registered under the U.S. Health and Human Services and the U.S. Office of Human Research Protection. It is a major asset in establishing credibility for the research projects undertaken at BIHS and all CBC health institutions.

Cancer Registry

A local cancer registry was established in 2013.  It has allowed MBH to participate in a number of international research projects in Oncology including Hepatocellular cancer, breast cancer, etc.). The software was upgraded to use CanReg, a standard international cancer registry program, and the staff overseeing the registry were trained accordingly.  We expect that this will improve the data needed to study cancer diagnosis and treatment.  The Institute is working with a number of research universities on cancer diagnosis and treatment.  

Dana-Faber Cancer Institute (DFCI)

With the support of Prof. Wilfred Ngwa, we are working on grant support from DFCI for developing a radiation therapy unit at Mbingo Baptist Hospital.  The bunker building for the linear accelerator has been designed and received approval from the Department of Radiation Safety in Yaoundé.  Fundraising is currently ongoing. 

Pediatric Oncology

A pediatric oncology program has been developed with the assistance of Stellenbosch University in South Africa.  With the support of World Child Cancer and other donors, the most common childhood cancers can now be treated for free. 

Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, Bamenda

Several clinical studies on the diagnosis of tuberculosis have been completed in partnership with the laboratory. Currently, the effort is being made to expand this collaboration into other areas, especially infectious disease diagnosis.

Global Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)

MBH is part of an international consortium establishing outcomes from CHF over two years of follow-up across many countries.