Global WACh

Research

November 17, 2025

Dr. Anna Larsen receives NIH Research Scientist Development Award to develop a mobile health parenting support intervention aimed at improving father-child mental health in Kenya

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Congratulations Dr. Anna Larsen (Acting Assistant Professor, UW Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences) for receiving a National Institute of Health Research Scientist Development Award to fund “Improving fathers’ mental health, parenting, and familial engagement through an mHealth intervention in Kenya.” This five-year award supports an intensive, mentored research career development experience contributing to Dr. Larsen’s path to become an independent researcher.

This study addresses high mental health burden among men in Africa and aims to identify mental health needs, parenting challenges, and preferences for mobile health (mHealth) approaches among Kenyan fathers in a mixed methods approach. Fathers play a pivotal role in early child health development with impact on mental, social, and financial well-being throughout a child’s lifespan. One in ten fathers experience severe mental health challenges due to the stressors of parenting. Fathers’ poor mental health adversely impacts their relationships with partners, parenting behaviors and families’ health and safety, yet mental health services for fathers are scarce. (more…)

November 14, 2025

Dr. Arianna Means receives award to support facilities strengthen organizational culture of learning and improvement to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality

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Principal Investigator Dr. Arianna Means; Co-Principal Investigators, Dr. John Kinuthia and Dr. Unger; Research Scientist Dr. Sarah Hicks

Congratulations to Dr. Arianna Means (Associate Professor, Global Health) for receiving a National Institutes of Health award for the AMANI (Accelerating Maternal And Neonatal survIval) trial that will test a practice facilitation package (of training materials, tools, and other resources) that could help stakeholders better understand the circumstances surrounding maternal and perinatal deaths, leading to improved quality of care and reduced mortality among mothers and infants. Study collaborators include Dr. John Kinuthia (Kenyatta National Hospital), Dr. Jennifer Unger (Brown University), and Dr. Sarah Hicks (Research Scientist, Global WACh).

AMANI builds on prior research identifying critical issues contributing to neonatal deaths during health facility delivery and identifying factors influencing guideline adherence, which led to the development of a practice facilitation package designed to strengthen facilities’ capacity to address care quality and implementation gaps. (more…)

November 13, 2025

Dr. Dickens Onyango receives Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award to support research career development in TB prevention among people living with HIV

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Congratulations to Dr. Dickens Onyango (Deputy Director of Medical Services, Kisumu County Health Department and visiting research scientist at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya) for receiving a National Institute of Health Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award for “Enhancing Adherence and Completion of the Three-Month Isoniazid with Rifapentine (3HP) Tuberculosis Preventive Therapy Regimen Through Biomarker-Guided Adherence Counselling (ACT-TPT).” Collaborating institutions include the Kisumu County Department of Health, Kenyatta National Hospital, and University of Washington.

The award supports an intensive, mentored research career development experience that will allow Dr. Onyango to further develop and expand skills in qualitative research, human-centered design, randomized controlled trials, and advanced implementation science methods to evaluate multicomponent interventions while growing in his career in tuberculosis (TB) prevention among people living with HIV (PLHIV).  Click here to watch Dr. Onyango’s ‘Breakfast with WACh’ lecture from March 2025 that summarizes prior research that this project builds upon. (more…)

November 6, 2025

Global WACh visits Seattle Children’s Hospital for sepsis research lecture and networking

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On October 23rd, the UW Pediatrics Global Health Collaborative (GHC) invited Global WACh team members to Seattle Children’s Hospital for an engaging morning of knowledge-sharing and networking. We value these interactions with other researchers for opportunities to share our work, find potential collaborators, and stay current within our fields of study.

The hospital’s Provider Grand Round lecture series invited a distinguished pediatric healthcare expert.

“From Bedside to Bench to Back: Pediatric Sepsis in Resource-Constrained Settings” (Click here to watch)

Dr. Teresa Bleakly Kortz, MD, MS, PhD
Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in Critical Care Medicine
Director of the Institute for Global Health Sciences Affiliate Program
Director of the Pediatric Global Health Scholars Pathway at the University of California, San Francisco

October 27, 2025

Dr. Irene Njuguna and Dr. Grace John-Stewart lead new study on the effects of HIV and environmental exposures on pediatric neurodevelopmental outcomes

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The population of children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected (CHEU) is growing, and the majority live in Eastern and Southern Africa where exposure to environmental toxins (lead, heavy metals, and pesticides) is high.  Understanding the combined impact of HIV and environmental exposures on child health outcomes is critical to identify approaches to mitigate risks and provide treatment for CHEU.

Global WACh Co-Directors, Dr. Irene Njuguna and Grace John-Stewart, are Multiple Principal Investigators of a new five-year National Institutes of Health award for “Impact of HIV and toxic metals exposure on neurodevelopment at school age (HOPE-X).” The study leverages an existing cohort of Kenyan children (HOPE) who were enrolled at 6 weeks of age and followed to 3 years, enabling the research team to extend follow-up to 8 years old to study the longer-term impact of HIV and environmental exposures on neurodevelopmental outcomes. The team will also explore the concentrations of pesticides and other toxic metals (mercury, cadmium, manganese and arsenic) in biological samples. (more…)

October 20, 2025

Watch the Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) Shigella surveillance study results webinar

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On October 8th, researchers from the Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) Shigella Surveillance Study, conducted across seven countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, presented their findings. This 90-minute webinar featured short presentations from EFGH investigators on key findings and the implications for Shigella vaccines and clinical management.

The Burden, Consequences, and Cost of Shigella Diarrhea in Young Children — and Implications for Shigella Vaccines (Click here to watch)

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the rationale and methods of the EFGH study
  • Examine data on Shigella disease burden, antimicrobial resistance, consequences, and cost
  • Discuss key design considerations for future Shigella vaccine trials and eventual vaccine introduction

To learn more about EFGH, visit their website at https://depts.washington.edu/efgh/

September 12, 2025

Dr. Anjuli Wagner and Dr. John Kinuthia receive new award to understand how mobile health technology supports PrEP adherence

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Congratulations to Drs. Anjuli Wagner (Associate Professor, UW Global Health) and John Kinuthia (Affiliate Associate Professor, UW Global Health; Obstetrician Gynecologist, Kenyatta National Hospital) for receiving a National Institutes of Health award to fund “Mechanisms of Action for mobile SMS PrEP adherence intervention (mWACH PrEP Mechanisms)” that aims to understand how digital health technologies work to support women to adhere to PrEP, a daily oral pill to prevent HIV. Effectiveness of the pill requires it to be taken daily, yet more than half of women discontinue within the first month. (more…)

August 25, 2025

Researchers support new trial to evaluate the effects of probiotics in highly vulnerable infants

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Preterm and small for gestational age (SGA) infants have a significantly higher risk of mortality and morbidity than term infants or those born with normal birth weight in low- and middle-income countries. However, improvements in outcomes in these highly vulnerable populations have been slow worldwide due to the complexity of medical management of small and vulnerable infants. In recent years, small-scale clinical trials conducted across a variety of settings have shown that probiotic supplementation can improve short- and long-term outcomes, including reducing rates of sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis and improving growth and neurodevelopment. However, there is limited data on use of probiotics in preterm and SGA populations that is needed to inform future policy  and practice.

To help expand the evidence base of probiotic supplementation in preterm and SGA infants, Global WACh researchers are supporting the newly launched “Efficacy of probiotic supplementation in preterm and small for gestational age infants: A multi-centre, placebo-controlled, individually-randomised trial (PROPS Trial)” sponsored by the WHO Newborn and Child Health and Development Unit, coordinated by Johns Hopkins University, and funded by the Gates Foundation.  The trial will assess the effect of probiotic supplementation on mortality, morbidity, and growth in 14,000 enrolled preterm or term SGA infants in the first six months of life in five South Asian (Bangladesh, Pakistan) and Sub-Saharan African (Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria) countries with high rates of preterm birth and malnutrition among infants. Implementing partners include: (more…)

August 18, 2025

New CHAIN Network study aims to support families of children after hospital discharge

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Researchers of the Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network, a group of clinical experts and scientists seeking to optimize care for vulnerable children in limited resource setting, investigated how often, when, and why young children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia die when admitted to hospitals. While hospital admission and treatment help many children recover, it may not alter the trajectory of their health, which is dictated by the child, family, and socio-cultural factors, leading to poor health outcomes and preventable deaths.

Leveraging what they’ve learned to develop new child survival interventions, CHAIN researchers launched a two-year study titled, “CHAIN-PoP: A Proof of Principle Trial Supporting Families of Children After Hospital Discharge,” to evaluate a combined intervention of health system strengthening at discharge and increased support to families of high-risk children. The added educational and financial support may improve caregivers’ empowerment and change the decision-making dynamics within the household in a favorable way. (more…)

July 21, 2025

Global WACh researchers and partners at the 2025 International Workshop on Pediatrics & HIV and International AIDS Society Conference: Posters and Presentations

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Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta National Hospitals at IAS 2025 in July 2025.


In July, researchers affiliated with UW/Global WACh and Kenyan partner institutions attended two conferences held in Kigali, Rwanda: The International Workshop on Pediatrics & HIV held from July 11-12 and the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science held from July 13-17.  Both conferences are highly influential meetings on cutting-edge HIV research and its applications to move science into policy and practice.

We’ve rounded up 19 poster abstracts and one oral abstract by University of Washington, University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta National Hospital faculty, staff, and student researchers working on several collaborative studies based in Kenya. Their findings presented the last scientific discoveries on maternal mental health, childhood neurodevelopment, father engagement, pediatric HIV prevention and care, and PrEP uptake and adherence among adolescents and young women. (more…)


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