Global WACh

HIV

April 25, 2025

MAMMS-IYCF study team wins Top Abstract Award at the 2025 KEMRI Annual Scientific and Research Conference

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MAMMS-IYCF study team members participated in a live Q&A session at KASH 2025.

Congratulations to Dr. Wanini Edemba, Co-Investigator of the MAMMS-IYCF study, for receiving a Top Abstract Award at the 15th Kenya Medical Research Institute’s Annual Scientific and Research Conference (KASH) held from February 11th-14th, 2025 in Kenya.

“A pilot study to develop and test a two-way SMS Platform to recognize and prevent wasting among HIV-infected and HIV-exposed uninfected children in Kenya” summarized how Dr. Edemba and a collaborative team from UW and Kenya Medical Research Institute adapted the Maternally Administrated Malnutrition Monitoring System (MAMMS) mHealth platform –  in which caregivers measure their child’s mid-upper arm circumference on a weekly basis and communicate color-coded findings with healthcare workers via SMS text message – to include messages on infant and young child feeding (IYCF).  The study team integrated these tailored messages and administered them to caregivers seeking care for children exposed to HIV at the Homa Boy and Migroi County referral hospitals over a two year period. (more…)

August 9, 2024

Researchers present the latest science at the International Workshop on Pediatric HIV and AIDS 2024 in Germany

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Global WACh researchers attended the 25th International AIDS Society Conference (AIDS 2024) held from July 22-26 in Munich, Germany.  This year’s theme was “Put people first” — a call on the global HIV response to unite behind this simple principle and think of solutions from the point of view of those most affected. Researchers also attended the 16th International Workshop on HIV Pediatrics, a pre-conference event focused on the prevention and treatment of paediatric HIV infection with the overall objective to stimulate research that will advance prevention and treatment strategies for infants, children, and adolescents.

15 poster abstracts and one oral presentation from collaborative University of Washington and University of Nairobi/Kenyatta National Hospital studies featured the latest evidence related to health outcomes among children with different exposures to HIV, influential factors to early child neurodevelopment outcomes, key considerations for mobile reproductive health services for women living with HIV, implementation strategies for PrEP, and more. In addition to presenting research findings, some members received acclaimed awards at the conferences. (more…)

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…)


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