INDEPTH Network Tests Vaccines In Ghana

KINTAMPO, GHANA - SEPTEMBER 19: Madina Mamoda holds her 2 year old Son Fauzia Momada as a nurse gets ready to give him a vaccination shot September 19, 2007 in the Kintampo Health Center in Ghana, Africa. Please note - this child is NOT part of the study conducted by INDEPTH Network. Candidates for drugs or vaccines against malaria, TB and HIV are increasingly moving into clinical trials, and these trials are best held in regions where the diseases hit hardest. But it is complicated to monitor the testing of potential life-saving products when people have no home addresses, official means of identification, or even consistent spelling of family names. Fred Binka, a Ghanaian physician and epidemiologist who runs the INDEPTH Network, is developing systems that can make clinical trials more efficient across Africa. His organization works with community leaders to establish basic identification systems, such as numbering huts in a village or handing out laminated ID cards with photos. (Photo by Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images)