WHO ACTION-III trial: antenatal corticosteroids for improving outcomes in preterm newborns
We're trialing 2 doses of antenatal corticosteroids for women with a high probability of giving birth in the late preterm period. We're focusing on births in hospitals in low-resource countries with an aim to improve newborn outcomes.
This is a multi-country, multi-centre, 3-arm, parallel group, double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized trial. The aim of this trial is to assess the benefits and possible harms of two regimens of antenatal corticosteroids, dexamethasone phosphate 4x6mg IM q12h and betamethasone phosphate 4x2mg IM q12h, compared to placebo, when given to pregnant women in the late preterm period (gestation age of 34+0 to 36+5 weeks) when they are at risk of preterm birth.
Timeline
2022–2026.
Partners
Funding partners
Gates Foundation
Collaborators
- WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research
- UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/ WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP)
- WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing
- International Center for Maternal and Newborn Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States
- Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Dhaka, Bangladesh
- KLE University’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Belgaum, India
- Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya
- University of Nairobi, Kenya
- University of Ibadan, Nigeria
- Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
- Aga Khan University, Pakistan
Project contacts
Main contact
Professor Joshua Vogel
Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head, Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health Group; Senior Principal Research Fellow
Project team
Professor Joshua Vogel
Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head, Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health Group; Senior Principal Research Fellow
