Donations of cosmetics support work of researcher returning to Nairobi

Dr. Elizabeth Bukusi, a gynecologist and AIDS researcher from Nairobi, flew back to her native Kenya July 2 with an intriguing assortment of excess baggage: boxes full of donated cosmetics and beauty supplies.

Bukusi had been in Seattle since September, as part of her studies for a master’s degree in public health (MPH) with the UW’s International AIDS Research and Training Program.

Now, Bukusi returns to Nairobi to launch a research study to determine risk factors for bacterial vaginosis, a common vaginal infection. Research elsewhere in Africa indicates that the infection makes women more susceptible to HIV infection. Her study will also try to change the hygiene practices of male partners to see if such changes will reduce the recurrence of bacterial vaginosis in women.

But how to persuade Kenyan women to participate in the study, which requires a total of four visits to Bukusi’s clinic in Nairobi? Bukusi decided that the promise of a gift of cosmetics and other beauty supplies to women who complete the study would be an attractive inducement.

Mary Fielder, assistant to Dr. King Holmes, director of the UW Center for AIDS and STD, began calling and e-mailing women friends in and outside the university, urging them to donate new cosmetics — such as the sample beauty products and promotional items offered at department-store cosmetics counters. She hit the jackpot when Patra Leaming, secretary in the Office of Nursing Research, sent out the word to School of Nursing faculty, staff and students, and donations started pouring in. Other donors included employees at MSNBC and local pharmaceutical companies.

Bukusi is seeking similar incentive rewards for research participation by the male partners of the Kenyan research subjects, but hasn’t yet found donors. Fielder will take suggestions at (206) 720-4248.

Bukusi will spend 14 months in Kenya gathering research data, and will then return to Seattle to analyze the data and complete her degree, which will be added to the medical and specialist degrees she holds from the University of Nairobi.

The International AIDS Research and Training Program, under whose auspices Bukusi is conducting her research, is directed by Dr. Joan Kreiss, UW professor of medicine and epidemiology. Kreiss’ research concentrates on AIDS in Africa, specifically focused on heterosexual transmission and transmission from mother to child.

Figures recently released at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, show that of the estimated 30.6 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, 21 million are in Africa. In some African countries, the rate of infection may be as high as 25 percent. ¶

Laurie McHale