Project Background
Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in Nigeria, accounting for a significant proportion of global malaria cases and deaths.
While national statistics provide aggregated estimates, there is limited disaggregated data describing how severe malaria burden, clinical manifestations, and outcomes vary across age groups.
Recognizing this evidence gap, the DISBURMA Study (Disaggregating the Burden of Severe Malaria in Paediatric Populations in Nigeria) aims to provide comprehensive, age-specific insights into severe malaria morbidity and mortality patterns among children and adolescents up to 20 years of age. The findings will guide health system planning, case management protocols, and malaria control strategies. The study’s overarching aim is to quantify the burden, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of severe malaria among paediatric and adolescent populations (0–20 years).
Purpose of the assignment
This is a multi-centre retrospective cohort study using routine hospital records of paediatric and adolescent admissions with severe malaria from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. Study sites will include the 18 health facilities selected to represent Nigeria''s epidemiological zones, urban/rural mix, and population density. The specific objectives include to:
Estimate age-specific incidence, clinical presentations, and case-fatality rates of severe malaria among children and adolescents aged 0–20 years across multiple facilities in Nigeria (2021–2025).
Examine temporal trends in severe malaria admissions and deaths by age, sex, SMC and non-SMC zones.
Identify key comorbidities and complications associated with severe malaria.
Assess facility-level differences in severe malaria burden and management practices.
Scope of work
The DISBURMA Study will adopt a retrospective, multi-centre hospital-based cohort design, using data from 18 selected health facilities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
These facilities represent diverse malaria epidemiological profiles, urban-rural contexts, and population densities.
The retrospective analysis will cover hospital admission records from January 2021 to December 2025, focusing on children and adolescents diagnosed with severe malaria.
All admissions of patients aged 0–20 years with clinically or laboratory-confirmed severe malaria will be eligible for inclusion.
Data abstraction will use a standardized electronic data capture (EDC) system (SurveyCTO), guided by a detailed extraction form and variable dictionary. Key variables will include demographic information, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, treatment details, comorbidities, and patient outcomes. A minimum of 100 severe malaria cases among 0-20 years over 5 years (2021-2025) will be extracted from hospital records.
Level of Effort (LOE):
Data extraction of severe malaria cases from inpatient medical records (case notes), laboratory registers (malaria microscopy/RDT results), paediatric and emergency department logs, referral and discharge forms, and the national severe malaria register between 2021 and 2025.
The research coordinator will provide technical oversight on the daily data extraction of severe malaria cases and the research assistants.
Specific Tasks
Research Coordinator:
Receive briefing from the Malaria and Public Health team on the assignment
Support training research assistants to identify severe malaria cases from registers and case notes
Conduct monitoring and supervision of the research assistants
Screen and validate the data collected from the study
Analyse the study data
Write activity and technical reports of the study
Responsible for the day-to-day coordination and oversight of the study, including study preparation, data quality assurance, data management, progress monitoring, stakeholder coordination, documentation, and preparation of the final analysis-ready dataset.
Deliverables
Research Coordinator:
Training report
Monitoring and supervision report
Data screening, validation and analysis results
Data submitted by research assistants
Activity and technical report
Person Specifications
Research Coordinator
Expert Profile:
The research coordinator will have a minimum of a Master’s degree in a health-related course with experience in health services provision.
Qualifications, experience and skills
:
Essential:
Hold a postgraduate degree in health sciences, social sciences, or a related field.
Minimum 5 years of research or equivalent subject-matter experience
Experience in the use of electronic platforms to capture and report data
Familiarity with secondary, tertiary and private hospitals management system
Excellent communication skills
Desirable:
Experience of collaborating with government institutions and non-governmental organisations or academic institutions
Have an understanding of diverse audiences and cultures
Have obtained training in health research ethics.