Page 42 - The lraternational Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand.indd

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XV-2023

Sustaining Health Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic:

Lessons from Field Sites in Rural Cambodia

Dysoley Lek , Bipin Adhikari , James J Callery , Rupam Tripura ,
3,4*
1,2*
3,4*
3,4*
Mom Ean , Moul Vanna , Nicky Almasy , Bunreth Voeurng ,
6
7
5
1
Phaikyeong Cheah , Kesinee Chotivanich , Thomas J Peto 3,4
3,4
8
Abstract
Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented difficulties to
medical research collaborations during 2020-22. Mahidol-Oxford Tropical

Medicine Research Unit (MORU) has field research sites in Cambodia which braced
various challenges due to pandemic. We discuss how MORU’s field research sites
responded to the challenges brought by COVID-19 pandemic. During the
pandemic, field research continued a chemoprophylaxis trial in northeast
Cambodia that recruited 1400 patients; western Cambodia established operational

research that involved 120 village malaria workers (VMWs) and recruited >4500
patients across two provinces, a multi-site clinical trial recruited 220 vivax patients,
and another operational study recruited 1344 febrile and vivax patients in the

communities through 27 VMWs. In addition, engagement activities involved youth
groups (n = 25) from a local school including authorities from various levels as
and when required. All of these studies and activities operated through the

1 School of Public Health, National Institute of Public Health, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2 National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
3 Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University,
Bangkok, Thailand
4 Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine,
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
5 Action for Health and Development, Battambang, Cambodia
6 NA Productions, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7 Provincial Health Department, Battambang, Cambodia
8 Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
* Joint first authors
Correspondence to
Dysoley Lek (MD). Email: soleycnm@gmail.com
Dr Thomas J Peto (PhD). Email: tom@tropmedres.ac

Sustaining Health Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic:
34 Lessons from Field Sites in Rural Cambodia