Research
August 26, 2020
Dr. Irene Njuguna receives NIH Emerging Global Leader Award to support HIV+ adolescents thrive in schools
Categories: Awards, HIV, Research, Schools
Congratulations to Dr. Irene Njuguna (Pediatric Infectious Disease Resarcher, Kenyatta National Hospital) for receiving a National Institutes of Health K43 Emerging Global Leader Award!
Dr. Njuguna is currently involved in multiple University of Nairobi-Global WACh collaborative studies focused on pediatric and adolescent HIV. This five-year award supports her growing research career in this field.
The new study titled “Understanding the role of schools in supporting HIV treatment outcomes among HIV infected adolescents,” — also known as TIMIZA, the Swahili word for “achieve” – focuses on the role of schools in supporting HIV treatment for adolescents in Kenya. (more…)
July 29, 2020
Dr. Patty Pavlinac receives grant to explore enteric pathogens and antimicrobial resistance
Categories: Children, Gut Health and Child Survival, Research
Children hospitalized with severe illness in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are at high risk of morbidity and mortality following discharge from hospital, but mechanisms driving this vulnerability are poorly understood and there are no recommended interventions specifically targeting the post-discharge period.
Dr. Patty Pavlinac, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health and Co-Director of Global WACh’s Gut Health and Child Survival Priority Area, is the Principal Investigator of a newly awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant to explore the mechanisms underlying this risk, including how azithromycin—an antibiotic commonly used to treat pediatric infections—affects children’s health and nutritional outcomes in SSA.
The findings will inform the development of interventions to reduce the risk of death, re-hospitalization, and growth faltering following hospitalizations among this vulnerable group of children.
July 16, 2020
Dr. Arianna Means awarded NIH grant to develop strategies to improve pediatric treatment guideline adherence at healthcare facilities
Categories: Awards, Gut Health and Child Survival, Research

Primary causes of death for children under five include pneumonia and diarrhea, and nearly half of deaths are attributable to undernutrition. It is estimated that over half of these deaths are preventable with simple, existing, appropriately applied evidence-based interventions, synthesized within pediatric clinical treatment guidelines.
Although health workers in low-and-middle-income countries are trained on pediatric treatment guidelines, adherence to guidelines is often low and there is a need to identify strategies to improve quality of care in settings with the highest burden of preventable child deaths.
July 11, 2020
Global WACh Researchers Share Findings Virtually at AIDS 2020
Categories: Conferences, HIV and Co-Infections, Research
The 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020) moved from San Francisco, CA to a virtual platform this year. The largest conference on HIV/AIDS research was held from July 6-10, 2020 and gathered researchers from around the world.
Global WACh faculty, staff, and students within the HIV and Co-Infections Scientific Priority Area shared 9 poster abstracts, 1 oral abstract, and moderated 1 oral poster discussion session on an innovative and interactive global platform to influence discussions on HIV science, research, and policy.
See the abstract titles below and click on the titles to learn more.
July 1, 2020
New trial paper evaluating intervention to prevent TB infection in HIV-exposed uninfected infants
Categories: HIV and Co-Infections, Publication, Research
Children born to mothers living with HIV are at an increased risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection, and young infants are particularly vulnerable to rapidly progressing to TB disease. Isoniazid preventative therapy (IPT) is used routinely to prevent TB after known TB exposure, but recent data suggest most transmission (70-90%) to young children occurs outside the household without identified exposure. Whether IPT can be used to prevent TB initial infection is unknown. (more…)
May 19, 2020
SEEMS-Nutrition estimates costs of early childhood development programs in Malawi
Categories: Children, Nutrition, Research

The Strengthening Economic Evaluation for Multi-sectoral Strategies for Nutrition (SEEMS-Nutrition) project, led by Dr. Carol Levin (Health Economist and Associate Professor, Global Health), has a unique opportunity to collect cost data alongside six on-going interventions and to generate new evidence on costs and cost-effectiveness of multi-sectoral projects in five country settings. Visit this website to learn more about SEEMS-Nutrition.
The project applied its costing evaluation approaches to retrospectively estimate the costs and impact for an integrated agricultural, early childhood development, and school feeding randomized-control trial conducted in Malawi. (more…)
May 18, 2020
View recorded Global WACh research talks at UW
Categories: Gut Health and Child Survival, HIV and Co-Infections, Research, Talks and Events
Over the spring academic quarter at UW, Global WACh investigators and student research assistants shared their work across various presentation platforms across campus. Research span from assessing environmental enteric dysfunction on child health and survival to evaluating risks of depression among HIV-infected adolescent girls, to improved treatment of TB and HIV co-infections.
March 24, 2020
World TB Day 2020: Researchers explore interventions for improved maternal-child outcomes
Categories: Conferences, HIV and Co-Infections, Publication, Research
The observation of World TB Day each year on March 24th provides an opportunity to raise awareness about tuberculosis (TB) and the measures needed to find, treat, and prevent this devastating disease that surpasses HIV as the leading infectious cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.
With the success of HIV treatment globally, most children born to mothers living with HIV will remain HIV-negative. However, these HIV-exposed children remain at high risk for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection and disease. (more…)
March 11, 2020
Researchers share latest science at CROI 2020
Categories: HIV and Co-Infections, Research, Talks and Events
The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) brings together top basic, translational, and clinical researchers from around the world to share the latest studies, important developments, and best research methods in the ongoing battle against HIV/AIDS and related infectious diseases. (more…)
December 5, 2019
Researchers present findings at the 2019 American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Conference
Categories: Conferences, Gut Health and Child Survival, Research
Last week, researchers from Global WACh’s Gut Health and Child Survival scientific priority area attended the 68th annual American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Conference in National Harbor, MD. ASTMH founded in 1903, is the largest international scientific organization of experts dedicated to reducing the worldwide burden of tropical infectious diseases and improving global health. Experts envision a world free of tropical infectious diseases by generating and sharing scientific evidence, informing health policies and practices, fostering career development, recognizing excellence, and advocating for investment in tropical medicine/global health research.
Our researchers gave six oral presentations and presented six selected poster abstracts. Topics ranged from childhood diarrhea and enteric diseases to implementation science approaches for mass drug administration to factors of hospitalized-based child mortality.
Scroll below to read the abstracts. (more…)
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