Awards
January 28, 2019
Global WACh Student Researchers Feature Posters at the 2019 Global Healthies
Categories: Awards, Research, students
Photo credit: UW School of Public Health
On January 23rd, the University of Washington Department of Global Health held its annual Global Healthies Opportunities Fair and Poster Competition, which seeks to strengthen connections and start new collaborations for better global health impacts. It was an exciting evening with a large presence of Global WACh faculty, staff, students and colleagues engaging around our Center’s research and training opportunities.
This year, 12 Global WACh research assistants and Certificate students competed in the poster competition across four distinct categories (Discovery and Development, Education and Training, Implementation and Application, and Public Health Service and Direct Care). Research assistant, Danae Black (PhD Candidate in Epidemiology), had the winning poster in the Public Service and Direct Care category! Her research unveiled new data in an area not well studied—the burden of tuberculosis (TB) and utilization of TB preventative therapies for HIV-infected adolescents in Kenya. These therapies entail daily oral medication taken for up to six months without interruption to effectively prevent TB. Danae’s findings identified frequent medication shortages across 101 HIV care facilities, meaning that a large number of patients exposed to TB have started therapy, but few have completed it. The gaps leave patients, whose immune systems are weakened by HIV, at higher risk of developing potentially severe forms of TB. The impact of Danae’s findings can help researchers better understand the current TB prevention efforts in Kenya and find ways to systematically improve health outcomes in this vulnerable population.
We are so proud of all our student researchers and their achievements. Well done! (more…)
November 29, 2018
Global WACh Announces the 2018 Seeds for Change Award Recipients
Categories: Awards
Global WACh is pleased to announce applicants selected for this year’s funding cycle of the Seeds for Change Resource Award to Strengthen Collaborative Sites. Congratulations to our three awardees! (more…)
November 27, 2018
Drs. Christine McGrath, Kirk Tickell receive a Thrasher Award for innovative strategy to train and support mothers to identify early childhood malnutrition
Categories: Awards, Gut Health and Child Survival
Dr. Christine McGrath, PhD, MPH
Dr. Kirk Tickell, MBBS, MPH
Malnutrition programs in limited-resource settings currently rely on community health workers to screen children for acute malnutrition by measuring their mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), which is the circumference of a patient’s arm at the midpoint between the shoulder and elbow. MUAC uses a simple, color-coded plastic band to provide an assessment of nutritional status and is an effective tool to predict mortality. Recruiting and retaining community-based providers who are adequately trained and equipped to perform this screening is challenging and can result in high costs, low screening coverage, and late identification of malnourished children. What if mothers had the tools and training to quickly determine their child’s nutritional status in their own homes and rapidly engage with nutritional services, if needed? (more…)
July 19, 2018
Dr. Brandon Guthrie receives award for mHealth intervention to improve transition from pediatric to adult HIV care
Categories: Awards, HIV, Youth
Congratulations to Dr. Brandon Guthrie, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology, who received a NIH R34 Clinical Trial Planning Grant award to develop and test a mobile health technology (mHealth) based intervention to support youth transitioning from pediatric to adult HIV care in Kenya! He is leading a team of researchers from the University of Washington, whoinclude Drs. Jennifer Unger, PhD (Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology), Keshet Ronen, PhD (Research Scientist, Global Health), and Kristin Beima-Sofie, PhD (Research Scientist, Global Health). The team is also partnering with Dr. Megan Moreno, MD, from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Pediatrics Department, and with long-time collaborators from Kenyatta National Hospital. (more…)
May 15, 2018
The mCUBE study, funded by Grand Challenges Explorations, seeks to understand women’s contraceptive preferences and behaviors in Kenya
Categories: Awards, Contraception
Written by Alison Drake, Assistant Professor of Global Health, and Claire Rothschild, Epidemiology PhD student and mCUBE Research Assistant
As mobile phone ownership is rapidly growing around the world, crowdsourcing – asking questions to solicit information from large groups of people – is an increasingly attractive way to conduct global health research. In Kenya, nearly 90% of the population has access to a mobile phone,[1] and capturing data through mobile phones may provide a low-cost and effective solution for tracking health outcomes over time.
In 2017, Global WACh’s Dr. Alison Drake, Assistant Professor of Global Health, was awarded a Gates Grand Challenges Explorations grant to explore this idea – how mobile phones might be used to understand Kenyan women’s experience using family planning over time. Women and girls face major challenges using family planning, including side effects, stigma, cost, and barriers to access. Overall, 1 in 3 women starting a modern method of contraception stop using it within 1 year, and over half stop within 2 years.[2] This phenomenon is called the “leaking bucket”[3] in family planning coverage, making efforts to achieve universal access to family planning worldwide extremely difficult.
In partnership with PATH-Kenya, the Mobile Data Collection of Contraceptive Use, Behaviors, and Experiences (mCUBE) study is collecting information from Kenyan women using family planning in real-time through surveys distributed directly to their phone via short message system (SMS). The survey technology, developed by the Kenya-based mobile technology firm mSurvey, allows SMS questions to be personalized based on language, family planning method, and prior SMS responses.
Dr. Alison Drake and the mCUBE research team at a January 2018 training in Kisumu, Kenya
The team developed short and simple SMS surveys in four languages (English, Swahili, Luo, and Kisii) that could easily be completed in 5-10 minutes, and could capture important information on women’s experiences and challenges using family planning methods. This task was challenging, as SMS questions need to be clear and straightforward enough to ensure women can complete surveys on their own, but within a 160 character count limit. In some instances, when text is translated from one language to another, the length of the translated text can differ. The team consulted with members of the Global WACh Family Planning Working Group and staff from Global WACh’s collaborating institution, UW-Kenya, to further simplify questions as much as possible. The mCUBE study team enrolled participants from February 2018 to April 2018 from 10 public facilities across 5 counties in Western Kenya. A total of 1,270 women were enrolled, including 12% who didn’t have their phones at the time of enrollment and completed SMS registration remotely.
mCUBE Kenya Study Coordinator, Peninah Kithao, (right) meets with research assistant, Benard Otieno (left)
Once enrolled in the study and the SMS system, women receive weekly SMS surveys about their experience using family planning over the next 6 months. mCUBE is also using SMS to collect information about the health facilities where women and girls are seeking their family planning care. Together, this information can be connected to individual participants, providing insight into the quality of family planning services and the impact quality may have on family planning use and satisfaction.
We look forward to seeing the results of the study, with completion of follow-up anticipated in October 2018!
[1] http://www.ca.go.ke/index.php/what-we-do/94-news/366-kenya-s-mobile-penetration-hits-88-per-cent
[2] Castle S, Askew I. Contraceptive discontinuation: reasons, challenges, and solutions. FP2020, Population Council. 2016 [cited 12 September 2017]. Available from: <http://www.familyplanning2020.org/microsite/contraceptivediscontinuation>
[3] Jain AK. Fertility reduction and the quality of family planning services. Stud Fam Plann. 1989;20(1):1-16.
September 26, 2017
Global WACh Seed Grant Recipient Publishes in New Journals
Categories: Awards, Children, HIV, Research
Earlier this year, we featured Dr. Linnet Masese, then a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Washington’s Department of Medicine, as well as a 2011 Global WACh Integrated Health Seed Grant recipient. Dr. Masese has conducted meaningful research collaborations around the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents and young women in Kenya and the barriers they face to STIs prevention, care, and support. The first of three papers (“Barriers and Facilitators of Screening for Sexually Transmitted Infections in Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Mombasa, Kenya”) from her study supported by seed funding was published in PLOS One in January 2017. We are thrilled to announce the remaining two papers were recently published in scientific journals.
In the paper titled, “Parents’ and teachers’ views on sexual health education and screening for sexually transmitted infections among in-school adolescent girls in Kenya: a qualitative study,” Dr. Masese and her study team focus on the acceptability of STI screening in schools for adolescent girls. Parents and teachers can play crucial roles to influence adolescents’ reproductive health choices, thus, the study team felt it was important to understand parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards sexual health education. Through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, the team discovered a great need to improve parent-adolescent communication around sexual health, to lessen the taboo nature of discussing sex. Based on findings from this qualitative study, parents and teachers’ views on the acceptability of school-based STI screening suggest that expanded interventions are possible in this community. Data from this study may assist the work of other researchers and program planners with an interest in STI screening and adolescent sexual health. This paper is published in Reproductive Health.
Based on findings from the first two papers, Dr. Masese and her team developed a screening intervention. In the third paper, published in Sexually Transmitted Diseases, (“Screening for Sexually Transmitted Infections in Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Mombasa, Kenya: Feasibility, Prevalence, and Correlates”), they recruited adolescent girls and young women from high schools and universities to pilot a clinic-based STI screening. After attending information sessions, a substantial number of interested young women were willing to undergo the screening, many of whom were university students and did not need parental consent. The study results highlight the strength of using school-based sensitization as a way to encourage adolescents and young women to seek STI diagnosis and care at health clinics. While the clinic-based STI screening intervention suggested an effective school-based approach to decrease barriers for STI screenings among young women, younger adolescents continue to face the barrier of parental consent for screenings.
Both studies highlight the need to tailor or design reproductive health services to meet the needs of adolescents and young women. Dr. Masese and her study team’s research achievements conclude school-based STI screening is feasible and acceptable when conducted in collaboration with students, parents, and teachers. We congratulate Dr. Masese and her team for their excellent work, and look forward to learning how their work informs new approaches to improve sexual health education and STI screenings.
August 17, 2017
Global WACh Now Accepting Applications for Seeds for Change Awards
Categories: Awards
Download the 2017 Application Form
Applications are due on Wednesday, September 27th, 2017
The Karen Health Centre in Kenya replaced their fetal scope with a modern doppler in their antenatal care clinic using funds from their 2016 Seeds for Change Award.
The University of Washington Center for Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents, and Children (Global WACh) aims to contribute to scientific discoveries, nurture leaders, and foster collaborative approaches to improving the health and well-being of women, adolescents, and children. As part of this commitment, Global WACh supports Seeds for Change Awards (formerly known as Small Change Awards) that empower local front-line care providers to identify targets for clinical improvement, compete for support, and advocate for their patients. These awards aim to improve the patient experience in resource-limited settings by improving clinical care, patient satisfaction, workforce empowerment, and health service delivery for programs benefiting the health of women, adolescents and children.
Eligibility Requirements (Applicants must meet both requirements to apply)
• Applicant is employed by a current UW partner organization in a low resource setting
• Applicant is a staff or faculty member working in a health program or clinical setting that serves women, adolescents or children
Types of Resources Funded
Proposals must address unmet needs and improve the experience of women, adolescents, and children receiving healthcare services.
Potential topics may include but are not restricted to the following:
• Infrastructure improvements to existing structures (paint, furniture, signage) and associated labor costs
• Electronics (telephones, tablets, computers, AV)
• Medical equipment (stethoscopes, scales)
• Youth-friendly clinic improvements (play areas, toys)
• Patient educational materials
Proposals that will not be considered:
• Consumable supplies (gloves, gowns, notebooks etc.)
• Items that will not be retained at the site (e.g., giveaways to patients)
• Items and supplies that are already provided through government programs (e.g., mosquito nets)
• Ongoing salary support for staff
Funding Available
Awards of less than $1000 USD are strongly encouraged and will be given preference due to the scope of the award.
Visit the Seeds for Change webpage for more details.
March 3, 2017
Global WACh Seed Grant recipient publishes at PLOS One
Tags: adolescent health, Seed grants, STIs
As part of our commitment to meaningful research collaborations, Global WACh offers Integrated Health Seed Grants: one-year of seed funding for pioneering research to improve the health of women, adolescents, and children. The proposals we award recognize a global focus on community advocacy and innovative exploration.
Dr. Linnet Masese is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Washington Department of Medicine
In 2011 we awarded the seed grant to Dr. Linnet Masese, who at the time was a doctoral student at the UW Department of Epidemiology, and Clinic Section Head at the UW/University of Nairobi Research Site in Mombasa. Her original proposal was to explore the feasibility of Chlamydia trachomatis screening among adolescents and young women in Kenya. However, with nucleic acid amplification testing locally available at the UW Research Laboratory in Mombasa, she expanded the study to include screening for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis. We are thrilled to report that the first of three papers from this study titled “Barriers and Facilitators of Screening for Sexually Transmitted Infections in Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Mombasa, Kenya” was recently published in PLOS One.
Dr. Masese’s work centers around one of the earliest reproductive health challenges faced by young women as they become sexually active: the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Young women bear the greatest burden of STIs as they face significant barriers to STI screening. Through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, Dr. Masese and her study team identified the barriers to STI screening among adolescent girls and young women in Mombasa, Kenya (PLoS One paper). Based on findings from this qualitative study, they developed a screening intervention for adolescent girls and young women in Mombasa (manuscript submitted to STD).
As a center dedicated to fostering new discovery and career development, we couldn’t be happier to support this research achievement in Mombasa and we look forward to following the improvements in sexual health education and STI screening as a result of your work.
October 15, 2016
2015 Global WACh-Coulter Seed Grant recipients create anesthesia device for developing countries
Tags: bioengineering, coulter seed grant
In 2015, a group of engineering students proposed the idea for a low-cost, portable anesthesia delivery device specifically for use in resource-poor regions. The device’s aim was to overcome the challenge individuals in low-resource settings face when crucial medical procedures are often not performed due to a lack of accessible anesthesia delivery.
A $30,000 seed grant from the Global WACh-Coulter Foundation in 2015 allowed the team to design a benchtop test circuit, including a prototype of a simplified anesthetic vaporizer. With investigative mentorship from UW faculty and anesthesiology specialists, these students are now working to create the device that will make more surgeries possible and reduce unnecessary deaths.
Read more about this ongoing project here.
August 10, 2016
Global WACh Announces 2016 Small Change Awards
Tags: Small Change
We believe that small changes have the power to make a big difference. The Global WACh Small Change Awards are given to improve the patient experience in low and middle income countries by improving clinical care, patient satisfaction, workforce empowerment, and health service delivery for programs befitting the health of women, adolescents and children. Our applicants described their vision for a small change at their site, our panel reviewed the ideas, and the highest quality proposals demonstrating tangible change were chosen. We are pleased to announce and congratulate eight outstanding proposals as winners of the Small Change Award for 2016!
| Institution | Awardee | Award | Purpose |
| Aymba Clinic, Gondar, Ethiopia | Getnet Mequanint | $952 | Beds and bedside cupboards for Aymba’s maternal waiting room. |
| Karen Health Centre, Nairobi County | Teresa Nderi | $1000 | A freshly-painted waiting area, new exam-room curtains, and a fetal heart monitor. |
| Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya Pediatric Studies | Hellen Okinyi | $964 | Pulse oximeters, pediatric ambu bags, and nebulizers to better accommodate a high volume of patients. |
| Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya Pediatric Studies | Daisy Chebet | $960 | Diagnostic sets and pediatric blood pressure cuffs for the pediatric HIV care clinic. |
| Kenyatta National Hospital, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit | Dr. Rashmi Kumar | $900 | Bedside cupboards, a nurse desk, and filing cabinet to decongest the small PICU. |
| Kenyatta National Hospital, Department of Mental Health | Dr. Josephine Atieno Omondi | $900 | A child reflection room for engaging children aged 5-12 and preventing their boredom, anger, or disruption. |
| Kisumu East District Hospital | Sally Nyaboke Mogire | $1000 | A computer, printer, and USP device for rapidly accessing digital HIV test results. |
| Seattle Somali Health Board | Ahmed Ali | $639 | A laptop and scanner for keeping digital health records and accessing web materials. |
The Small Change Awards are supported through private donations from people like you. You can make a gift on our website’s Small Change Award page or give through the UW Combined Fund Drive that supports more than 5,000 nonprofits in the UWCFD campaign (Charity 1481904).
Scroll down to learn about two of our awards, and read a full summary of each of our award recipients here.
Spotlight on Kisumu East District Hospital
Among our award recipients is Sally Nyaboke Mogire of Kisumu East District Hospital (KEDH) in Kisumu, Kenya. Sally is a PMTCT nurse at KEDH’s pediatric HIV care unit. This unit faces the difficult challenge of delayed time in receiving HIV DNA results. It takes about 8 weeks to get the final results, due to the difficulty of transporting results from a central laboratory located 60km away. This is especially hazardous for HIV-infected children and adolescents who need urgent antiretroviral therapy for survival and healthy outcomes. KEDH identified a need for accessing a web-based tracking tool for clinics, which can send results within 1-2 weeks. Sally requested a computer and printer to take advantage of the digital HIV result system. Global WACh is excited to partner with KEDH as they begin to provide faster, safer, and more complete care of children affected by HIV.
Spotlight on Aymba Clinic
Another small change award recipient will provide pregnant women travelling long distances with a comfortable place to wait to deliver their babies. Genet Mequanint of the University of Gondar recognized transportation difficulties as one of the biggest detriments to women accessing the Aymba Clinic in Gondar, Ethiopia to safely deliver their babies. The Aymba clinic serves a rural, agrarian community of approximately 54,000, spread over a large area with very poor transportation. The Small Change at Aymba is beds and bedside tables to be used in the maternal waiting room for comfort and prolonged stay. This environment will improve the chance that a woman receives timely ANC services, delivers at a healthy facility, and utilizes a skilled attendant to ultimately reduce the risks of death and infection associated with childbirth. We’re proud to support this small change in helping to encourage more families to seek and receive comprehensive maternal, newborn, and child healthcare.
Pregnant mothers gather for a monthly focus group discussing ANC in the maternal waiting room at Aymba
Congratulations to all!
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