FEAST Wins BMJ Paper of the Year Award!

The Fluid Expansion as Supportive Therapy Trial (FEAST) was awarded the prestigious Research Paper of the Year Award at the 2012 British Medical Journal (BMJ) Awards.  The Paper, Mortality after Fluid Bolus in African Children with Severe Infection , scooped the Research paper of the year award for being an original research with the potential to contribute significantly to improving health and health care.   

As Prof Richard Hobb, one of the Award judges explained, “It was an easy decision, and there was unanimity on the panel as the study ran counter to what one might have expected in terms of seriously ill children with infection.  We were impressed with the rigour of the study, the relevance of the study to clinical practice, and the expectation that this data will inform policy that will rapidly change international guidelines.”

FEAST Chief Investigator, Prof Kath Maitland (Imperial College and KEMRI WTRP) received the award on behalf of the FEAST Team at the glitzy event, held on 23^rd May 2012 at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel, London.  On receiving the award, Prof Maitland said, “We are very honored to receive this award. Designing and conducting an ethical emergency controlled trial examining fluid resuscitation to international standards of good clinical practice had been widely viewed as an impossible challenge. The teams at the six hospitals (Kilifi, Kenya; Mulago; Mbale, Soroti and St Marys Lacor Uganda; Teule Tanzania) dedicated two years to ensuring delivery of a robust trial that had an unexpected and important result – which will certainly influence how sick African children are managed in future.”

She further added that “the findings of the trial were controversial and surprising. This is why we need to do clinical trials. Fluid resuscitation is very common in paediatrics and yet has never been tested anywhere in a controlled trial. The FEAST trial demonstrates that high quality trials can be conducted in Africa- and mean that 3 lives in every 100 hundred severely ill children will be saved if the results are implemented.”

Congratulating the FEAST Team, Professor Kevin Marsh, the Director of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya said, “This is a fantastic achievement-we are really proud of the FEAST team.”

Also congratulating the FEAST Team,  Professor Mahesh Parmar , the  Director, MRC Clinical Trials Unit said, “ This is a wonderful recognition of an excellent trial, addressing a key question, conducted by a top team. I know that the team worked incredibly hard to deliver this trial, and this award is a recognition of this hard work. It is also an important recognition of the commitment of the children and their families to the trial. “