Encomium As Prof. Afolabi Leads Medical Professionals At Close Out Of IVON Clinical Trial

… Health Minister Pate, LUTH CMD Prof. Adeyemo, others speak on improving investment in public health

It was a gathering of Who-is-Who in Nigeria’s medical space on Thursday in Lagos at the close out of IVON Clinical Trial.

Venue was the prestigious Radisson Blu Hotel, GRA, Ikeja.
IVON is an acronym that stands for Intravenous Versus Oral iron deficiency anaemia on pregnant Nigerian women.
It was an open labelled randomised controlled trial.
The Chief Investigator of the IVON Trial is
Professor Bosede Afolabi. She is the
Director, Centre for Clinical Trials Research and Implementation Science, College of Medicine, University of Lagos.

Mrs. Rachel Thompson is the Project Manager.
The opening remarks were made by the Minister of Health, Prof. Ali Pate. His address was delivered by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of LUTH, Prof. Lanre Adeyemo.
Also present were Director, Medical and Health Service, Kano State Ministry of Health, Dr Shehu Abdullahi; Deputy Director, Food and Drug Services Department, Essential Medicine list Division, Federal Ministry of Health, Yakubu Bulama; Director, Safe Motherhood Reproductive Health Division, FMoH, Dr Samuel Oyeniyi; Director of Africa Centre of Excellence for Population Health and Policy, Bayero University Kano/Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Prof Hadiza Galadanci; Director, Specialty Hospitals, FMoH, Dr Aderemi Azeez; Deputy Provost elect, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof Daniel Odebiyi and Senior Programme Officer, Health Global Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Nigeria, Dr Charity Chenge.
Others included Prof. Titilope Adeyemo (Co-Investigator); Prof. Nadir Sam-Agudu (Co-Investigator); Dr. Rebecca Akinajo (Co-Investigator); Dr. Noimot Balogun, Dr. Mobolanle Balogun, Dr. Ibrahim Mustapha, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, Dr. Shehu Usman, Dr. Abdulaziz Abubakar, Aduragbemi Bank-Thomas and others.

Some of the dignitaries made their contributions virtually.
Afolabi, a researcher, professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, was the cynosure of all eyes as she coordinated the event clinically.

IVON is the largest clinical trial done on the topic worldwide and it was coordinated by the Centre for Clinical Trial, Research and Implementation Science domiciled at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos.
It is a clinical trial that compared the effectiveness and safety of IV iron (intravenous ferric carboxymaltose) i.e infusion by drip to oral iron tablets (oral ferrous sulfate) for treating Iron Deficiency Anaemia in pregnancy.
It was an open-label randomised controlled trial conducted at 10 health facilities in Kano and Lagos states.
A total of 1,056 pregnant women at 20 – 32 weeks’ gestational age with moderate or severe anaemia, were randomised into two groups. The intervention group received one dose of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (infusion given as drip) at enrolment, while the other group received thrice daily oral ferrous sulphate tablets, from enrolment till six weeks postpartum (after delivery). All participants were followed up until six weeks post-partum (after delivery).
Prof. Pate, in his address delivered by Prof. Adeyemo, reiterated his commitment to improving quality of governance and leadership of hospitals and regulatory capacity of agencies under the Ministry of Health.

This, according to him, includes improving population health outcomes, promoting medical industrialisation and improving health security/investment in public health.

He described Prof. Afolabi’s medical endeavour as a significant milestone in global efforts to reduce maternal and child morbidity and mortality.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a $2.5 million grant for the research.
The minister, who noted that the outcome of the trial would change clinical obstetrics practice and ultimately reduce maternal and child morbidity and maternity, said: “Anaemia in pregnancy is highly prevalent in African countries. Globally, anaemia is the commonest medical condition affecting pregnant women and in Africa, about 50 per cent of all pregnant women are affected. In Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, about three in five pregnant women have anaemia.

“The condition, which is mostly caused by iron deficiency, is associated with increased risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. It is recognised as a major global health problem with an indicator dedicated to tracking reduction efforts of anaemia in women of 15 to 49 years of age, including pregnant women, added to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2020. Therefore, IVON clinical trial is a significant milestone in global efforts to reduce maternal and child morbidity and mortality, and the contributions of IVON trial team cannot be over-emphasised.

“The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare under my leadership has developed a four-point agenda. The key vision behind the four-point agenda of the ministry is that of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. The agenda include improving the quality of governance and leadership of hospitals, the regulatory capacity of agencies under the ministry, promoting medical industrialisation, and improving health security/investment in public health.”

On her part, Prof. Afolabi said IVON is the largest clinical trial done on the topic worldwide and was coordinated by the Centre for Clinical Trial, Research and Implementation Science (CCTRIS) at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos.
“We found that the intravenous iron is safe and effective compared to oral iron. We are still publishing, so we won’t give away all our results. We are waiting for the paper to be published, but we found that it was effective in reducing iron deficiency anaemia in women, pregnant women. Most of the time in pregnancy, more than 90 per cent of prescribers use just oral iron to treat anaemia. For now, the cost of the drugs is N40,000 but the drug is still in India. The price will still reduce.
“What we are trying to show is that one dose of intravenous is good, safe and an effective alternative for women who might not be able to tolerate the oral iron. We are in the process of publishing. We have submitted the publication for this trial of our findings to a very reputable journal, and we are waiting to hear from them once it is published, then we will go to town to disseminate it,” Afolabi said.