Global WACh

HIV

May 20, 2024

New grant supports scaling up integrated PrEP delivery to Kenyan pregnant and postpartum women

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Pregnancy is a high risk time for acquiring HIV. PrEP is a safe and effective prevention strategy to reduce women’s risk of acquiring HIV in pregnancy and postpartum and consequently vertical HIV transmission, improved health outcomes for both mother and child. In Kenya, this daily oral medication is being delivered in some regions during these life stages integrated into maternal and child (MCH) clinics, but scale-up has been sub-optimal.

Researchers from Global WACh and Kenyatta National Hospital have co-led implementation science studies focused on delivering integrated PrEP in routine MCH care, testing strategies to optimize delivery in western Kenyan counties. These represented the first and largest projects to deliver PrEP integrated into MCH clinics. Integrated PrEP delivery is now ready for scale up more broadly, which will require new implementation strategies to facilitate scale up. (more…)

April 29, 2024

Researchers share pediatric and adolescent HIV and associated neurological research at CROI 2024

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Global WACh researchers participated in the 31st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), held from March 3 to 6, in Denver, CO. They shared the latest discoveries in HIV and Co-Infectious Through the Lifecycle research portfolio on topics covering data-informed stepped adolescent HIV care approaches and neuropsychological outcomes in children associated with HIV.
See below for a list of poster abstracts to view. (more…)

April 8, 2024

Global WACh hosts Dr. Eleanor Namusoke Magongo for the Endowed DELV Lecture and Faculty Exchange in Global Health

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Dr. Eleanor Magongo delivered a keynote at UW on April 3, 2024. Credit: Kate Rankin

From April 2-4, Global WACh hosted Dr. Eleanor Namusoke Magongo, Paediatric and Adolescent HIV Care and Treatment Team Lead at the Ministry of Health Uganda, for a series of guest speaking events and meetings at the UW.  Dr. Magongo is a Pediatrician and Child Health Specialist with 15 years of experience leading teams to implement, monitor and scale up pediatrics and adolescent HIV programs in Uganda. She was selected by team members as the distinguished scholar of this year’s Endowed DELV Lecture and Faculty Exchange in Global Health program.  The program is supported by an endowed gift and intended to advance learning for UW faculty, staff, and students and to foster collaboration in global health. (more…)

March 6, 2024

New study aims to promote perinatal mental health screening and reduce the burden of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders in Kenya

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Multiple Principal Investigators Drs. John Kinuthia, Amritha Bhat, and Keshet Ronen

Pregnancy and the birth of a child is an exciting and celebratory time for many families. However, for many women and their families, it can be a difficult time if the mother is experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety. These feelings may get better or go away with time, but if they don’t, it is critical to access care to prevent worsening symptoms and recover. Without appropriate intervention, these feelings can have long term adverse implications for the mental, physical, and emotional health of women, children, and their families. (more…)

May 24, 2023

ATTACH investigators visit the Uganda Ministry of Health to strengthen adolescent HIV care model

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The ATTACH and Uganda Ministry of Health Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Care and Treatment teams. Credit: Irene Njuguna

This month, investigators of the Adolescent Transition to Adult Care for Adolescents Living with HIV (ATTACH) study, including Global WACh researchers Drs. Kristin Beima-Sofie, Dalton Wamalwa, Cyrus Mugo, Caren Mburu and Irene Njuguna, met the Uganda Ministry of Health’s Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Care and Treatment Team, led by Dr. Eleanor Namusoke-Magongo. During the visit, the ATTACH team interacted with peer youth leaders and learned about the Uganda Youth and Adolescent Peer Support (YAPS) Program, a model where youth can receive health education and intensive adherence counselling and support from fellow peers. (more…)

May 23, 2023

New grant explores biological pathways associated with growth outcomes in HIV-exposed uninfected infants for future interventions

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(Top row) Drs. David Taylor Hendrixson and Christine McGrath.
(Bottom row) Drs. Grace John-Stewart and Benson Singa.

Dr. David Taylor Hendrixson, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics – Divisions of Neonatology and Pediatric Infectious Diseases, received a two-year Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Research Awards supported by the UW Medicine Diabetes Institute, Diabetes Research Center, and Nutrition and Obesity Research Center. The project is in collaboration with Drs. Christine McGrath and Grace John-Stewart (UW Department of Global Health), Dr. Benson Singa (UW-KEMRI), and the UW Northwest Metabolomics Research Center. (more…)

May 19, 2023

Predoctoral researcher Tessa Concepcion receives award to support integration of long-acting PrEP methods into antenatal care in Kenya

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Tessa Concepcion, a second-year PhD student in the Global Health Implementation Science Program, recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to fund her predoctoral research with Global WACh at UW and Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Kenya.

The three-year grant titled, “Planning for delivery of novel PrEP formulations to pregnant and postpartum women in Kenya,” leverages the ongoing mWACh-PrEP randomized trial (MPIs: John Kinuthia, KNH and Jillian Pintye, UW)—a SMS-based support intervention to enhance PrEP adherence during pregnancy through the postpartum period—to identify pregnant and postpartum women’s preferences for novel PrEP agents and identify early process indicators for implementing these options in MCH systems. This proposal was guided by the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation and Sustainment (EPIS) framework to answer questions related to implementation of LA-PrEP for pregnant and postpartum women in Kenya. (more…)

March 31, 2023

Sikiliza Mama study centers patients’ needs to inform perinatal mental health services

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Sikiliza Mama study team members from left to right: Ben Ochieng, Joan Mutahi, Helen Moraa, Winnie Atieno, Anna Larsen

The Sikiliza Mama (Kiswahili for “Listen to Mama”) study, funded by a UW Behavioral Research Center for HIV (BIRCH) Community Centered Pilot AIDS Research Center (C-PARC) award, recently initiated qualitative data collection.  The team is using a human-centered design approach to conduct in-depth interviews among perinatal women with likely depression and/or anxiety to evaluate acceptability of existing formal and informal mental health services. The findings can help inform patient-centered perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMAD) services for women at risk for HIV and women living with HIV and result in better maternal and infant outcomes. (more…)

March 22, 2023

New review of WHO HIV testing guidelines informs effective strategies to increase uptake of testing services

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A new systematic review and meta-analysis published in PLOS Medicine informed World Health Organization (WHO) 2019 HIV testing guidelines and assessed the research question, “Which demand creation strategies are effective for enhancing uptake of HIV testing services?” focused on populations globally. HIV testing services (HTS) are the first step in reaching the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals for HIV management and control. Evaluating the effectiveness of different demand creation interventions to increase uptake of HTS is useful to prioritize limited programmatic resources.
(more…)

September 19, 2022

Ashenafi Cherkos accepts faculty position at University of North Texas

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Congratulations to Ashenafi Cherkos, PhD Candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Global WACh student trainee, who accepted a tenure track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Texas. (more…)


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