POLARITY is a collaborative clinical research and capacity-strengthening initiative that tackles a core problem in paediatric care in malaria-endemic settings: severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) are frequently viral, yet antibiotics are often prescribed because reliable and rapid diagnostics are limited. POLARITY evaluates a pragmatic point-of-care testing (POCT) package to improve early etiologic classification, support safer antimicrobial decisions, and generate locally relevant evidence for guidelines and stewardship.

Led by the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) in partnership with the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) and the St. Francis Xavier Hospital (SFXH) in Assin Foso, Ghana, the project combines implementation-ready diagnostics with structured training and impact evaluation in routine hospital care.