Transformation Through Collaboration: Lasting Impacts of the SEAP Project 

Over the past decade, the Surveillance of Enteric Fever in Asia Project (SEAP) has made remarkable strides in understanding typhoid and paratyphoid, diseases that pose a critical public health threat for many regions. This year, SEAP concluded its impactful journey, marking a pivotal milestone for the Sabin Vaccine Institute and its partners.

Beyond collecting critical data to guide future efforts against typhoid and paratyphoid, SEAP delivered lasting benefits to the communities in which it took place. These ranged from procuring vital resources and building capacity to fostering new partnerships and forging a path for sustainable growth.

Months after SEAP’s conclusion, health professionals in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal continue to feel its lingering influence.

Global Insights, Local Impact

SEAP’s impact was tangible across its operational sites. Through SEAP funding, partners in Bangladesh were able to introduce automated blood culture systems in hospitals, thereby reducing manual handling of samples and improving diagnostic accuracy for typhoid, and in Nepal, the project enabled lab capacity at Dhulikhel Hospital — improvements that continue to benefit the community even after SEAP’s conclusion.

Aside from benefitting the institutions that were involved, the project also strengthened individual skills for those involved in the research and fostered collaboration between SEAP researchers and local staff allowing for an overall improvement in patient care that continues today.

Through their participation with a global, long-term typhoid study, the sites at which SEAP research took place gained international recognition and garnered even more trust in their communities than they had prior to the project launch. Throughout the project, partners from these sites were provided with opportunities to present at international meetings, speak about their work, sharing their unique perspectives, and were thus able to connect with others in countries across the globe who deal with similar challenges.

Many of the individuals who were involved in the project continue to leverage their SEAP experience to reach new heights in their work. Irum Fatima, a Senior Manager of Research at the Aga Khan University, said that working on SEAP strengthened her manuscript-writing and research skills, and allowed her to actively participate in global discussions. “This experience also allowed me to learn from other Asian countries and contribute to the design of a serosurvey,” she said.

Moving Forward

Dr. Tahir Yousafzai, an Assistant Professor of Research at the Aga Khan University, said that since SEAP concluded, they have secured another grant from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to measure the impact of the typhoid conjugate vaccine in Pakistan. Others have seen similar developments.

“The experience gained through this project has opened up other research opportunities,” said Dr. Dipesh Tamrakar, Associate Professor in the Department of Community Medicine at Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences. “We conducted the Phase III clinical trial of TCV vaccine in collaboration with International Vaccine Institute. Similarly, the experience gained from our serological work paved way for studying serological burden of other disease like scrub, dengue, [and] hepatitis E, etc.. Furthermore, this project has been instrumental to building our team’s capacity in serological and molecular techniques, strengthening our ability to tackle border range of infectious disease in future.”

Sabin takes pride to be a part of work that not only yields valuable, actionable data, but also strengthens global partnerships, empowers local health systems, and lays a foundation for long-term impact. SEAP’s success demonstrates how research can transcend data and transform communities and inspire future collaborations.

“The SEAP study is more than just a scientific endeavor; it’s a story of transformation through collaboration,” said Dr. Denise Garrett, Sabin’s Vice President of Applied Epidemiology. “Beyond published data, SEAP’s true legacy lies in the capacity it built, the health systems it strengthened, and the meaningful partnerships it fostered. SEAP proves that impactful research reaches beyond data points — it enriches lives and paves the way for future collaboration.”