Research
February 16, 2017
WACh Priority Areas in Focus: HIV Through the Lifecycle
Categories: Research
Tags: HIV Through the Lifecycle, Scientific Priority Areas
Today we introduce our Scientific Priority Area of HIV through the Lifecycle.
Our center has cultivated expertise in HIV/AIDS since its inception, and our focus has always been on the intersection of three key populations: women, children and adolescents. While AIDS-related deaths are decreasing in children and adults, they are increasing in adolescents, which is why strategies for prevention and treatment of adolescents is a major focus of our priority area. By focusing on interventions during critical life stages for pregnant women, infants, and adolescents, we can prevent HIV from persisting throughout the duration of a person’s life and into the next generation.
This is how we will transform HIV testing and treatment approaches and achieve an AIDS free generation.
This is HIV Through the Lifecycle.
February 13, 2017
Global WACh reaffirms research commitments; launches new Scientific Priority Areas
Categories: Research
Tags: Family Planning Decision Support, Gut Health and Child Survival, HIV Through the Lifecycle, Scientific Priority Areas
When Global WACh completed its fifth year in June, we took a look back at the vision and goals that catalyzed the creation of our Center in 2011. The Global Center for Woman, Adolescent, and Child health was established to pursue scientific discovery and leadership development by breaking down traditional silos that separate disciplines. In doing so, we foster collaborative approaches that emphasize the interdependent nature of woman, adolescent and child health. We shaped our Center’s approach to research using a lifecycle perspective- one that views women, children and adolescents as interconnected populations that move along a shared life course. (more…)
January 12, 2017
Building evidence for HIV risk with contraceptive methods
Categories: Research
Tags: Contraception, Family Planning, HIV
Dr. Renee Heffron, co-director of our Global WACh Family Planning Working Group, has received new funding from the NIH to tie into the Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes (ECHO) Study. ECHO enrolls participants in sub-Saharan Africa for a randomized trial of three equally safe and effective contraceptive methods: the copper T intrauterine device (IUD); injectable depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), also known as the Depo shot; and the Jadelle implant. (more…)
January 6, 2017
Fred Hutch Science Spotlight: Reduced CMV Transmission
Categories: Research
A collaboration between scientists at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutch Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division looks at antiretroviral use and Cytomegalovirus transmission in mothers and children in Kenya. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an opportunistic infection contracted by people with HIV. In Kenya, most HIV- exposed children acquire CMV within the first year of life, primarily through their mother’s breast milk. These infants with both HIV and CMV have an increased risk of disease progression, neurologic disease and death. Researchers within this collaboration evaluated the impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on CMV transmission and breast milk levels related to maternal HIV. (more…)
November 15, 2016
Gut Health and Child Survival at ASTMH
Categories: Research, Talks and Events
Tags: antibiotic resistance, bacterial diseases, gut health, Kenya, Pediatrics
This week, members of our enteric research team are in Atlanta, Georgia for the 65th annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). They join approximately 4,400 other researchers, government and public health officials, practicing physicians, students, and all health care providers working in the fields of tropical medicine, hygiene, and global health.
Our Healthy Growth and Development Core is dedicated to optimizing care in young children at high risk of diarrhea-associated mortality and the ASTMH annual meeting provides our team with a unique opportunity to discuss recent findings, build inspiration for our next big projects, and re-energize our commitment to reducing the worldwide burden of tropical infectious diseases to improve health around the world.
Yesterday ASTMH heard from Rebecca Brander on correlations of drug resistance in Kenyan children with acute bacterial diarrhea. Rebecca is a MPH student at the University of Washington and completed this research in collaboration with Global WACh directors Grace John-Stewart, Patty Pavlinac, and Judd Walson. Patty Pavlinac, our Health Growth and Development director, leads the Global WACh representation at the conference.
Rebecca’s study “Host and Environmental Correlates of Multi-Drug Resistance in Kenyan Children with Acute Bacterial Diarrhea” is a key area of research for addressing the prevalence in which bacterial diarrhea results in significant morbidity and mortality in children in sub-Saharan Africa. Antibiotic treatment can be a life-saving intervention, but the antibiotic resistance has rapidly emerged in this population of children, and now this intervention’s efficacy is limited. The study’s data pinpoints risk factors for antibiotic resistance in enteric pathogens, in order to inform diarrhea management recommendations and control resistance.
Click to read the entire study.
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.
September 30, 2016
Breakfast with WACh welcomes Drs. Ghayda Mirzaa and Kristina Adams Waldorf
Categories: Research, Talks and Events
Tags: Breakfast with WACh, maternal health, Zika
Join us for breakfast and a lecture on Tuesday, October 11th with Drs. Ghayda Mirzaa, MD, FAAP, FACMG and Kristina Adams Waldorf, MD.
The Zika Epidemic: An Unprecedented Health Threat for Pregnant Women
October 11th, 9-10 AM
University of Washington, Harris Hydraulics Laboratory, Large Conference Room
September 20, 2016
SPEED study aims to better meet adolescent HIV care needs
Categories: Research
Tags: adolescent health, HIV, SPEED
Despite enormous expansion of HIV testing and treatment services in resource-limited settings, adolescents continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV. Lack of access to acceptable HIV testing, counseling, and treatment has been cited as a barrier to HIV care among adolescents. Additionally, health workers tasked with providing adolescent HIV services report feeling inadequately prepared to cope with the needs of this age group.
The SPEED study improves quality and accessibility of HIV care to meet the unique needs of adolescents. SPEED (Simulated Patient Encounters to promote Early Detection) uses patient actors to portray adolescent HIV patients as part of a clinical training intervention. This gives nurses and doctors in Kenya an opportunity to practice their skills diagnosing, caring for, and engaging adolescents living with HIV. The simulated encounters utilize a standardized patient script and provide opportunities for the trained actor and a faculty observer to deliver immediate feedback and support to the clinician.
Simulated patient interactions show great promise as a mechanism for health workers in low-resource settings to improve critical decision-making, patient interaction, and communication skills in working with adolescents. SPEED’s ultimate aim is for this increased provider confidence to in turn increase uptake and retention in adolescent HIV care.
This week, SPEED has been busy training a new group of patient actors in Nairobi, Kenya. Actor training is part of the study’s first year of progress. Led by Global WACh and UW School of Nursing researcher Dr. Pamela Kohler and managed by Dr. Kate Wilson, SPEED’s interventions and analyses will be conducted over the next four years.
September 12, 2016
Making strides in HIV testing and counseling
Categories: Research
Tags: HIVTesting, Kenya, KNH, Pediatrics
Irene Njuguna and Jill Neary are MPH Candidates in Epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health. With mentorship from Global WACh researcher Jenn Slyker and Kenyatta National Hospital VCT Director Dr. David Bukusi, they developed a new tool to track provider initiated HIV testing and counseling for children admitted to hospitals in Kenya. Read about their work below.
In line with the World Health Organization recommendations, the Kenya National HIV testing guidelines recommend universal provider initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC) for all children in sub Saharan Africa who come in contact with health care facilities. However, in many settings universal PITC is not routinely implemented, with ward transfers, weekend admissions, and discharges resulting in some missed testing opportunities. This results in late diagnosis of HIV infected children, who are at high risk of mortality and do not benefit fully from HIV treatment.
This project began with the intent to intervene in this cycle of unmet HIV care needs. The team looked to Kenya’s national referral hospital: Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Working with the PITC team at KNH, the team established an important framework for developing easy to use, acceptable tools to track and improve PITC coverage. In partnership with the KNH pediatric ward PITC counselors, a system was developed to track each individual child admitted, confirm testing completion, identify reasons any children missed testing, and flag children requiring testing.
The tool was successfully piloted in the pediatric department, and at the end of the practicum period, the PITC team recommended that the tool also be used in the adult in-patient medical wards.
Congratulations Irene, Jill, and the entire KNH team for your accomplishment! We can look forward to hearing about the continued success of PITC at Kenyatta National Hospital.
August 8, 2016
Success for CATCH at Nairobi Innovation Week
Categories: Research, Talks and Events
Tags: CATCH, HIV, Pediatrics
Last week at Nairobi Innovation Week, members of the CATCH study team spent three days showcasing their innovative visions for pediatric HIV care. This was an important opportunity for the team to highlight the successes and findings of CATCH: Counseling and Testing for Children at Home.
The CATCH study accomplishes what’s in its name by “catching” children ages 12 and under who have fallen through the cracks in HIV diagnosis systems. CATCH offers parents infected with HIV the opportunity to have their children tested, both in clinics or in the home. HIV-infected children are then linked to an HIV care clinic of choice, which ensures that children can receive much needed care. CATCH has been working and gathering data since the start of 2014, with funding for seven different sites in Nairobi and one in Western Kenya.
Throughout the three-day event, CATCH presented posters, modeled pediatric test kits, and engaged visitors with their approaches and ideas about HIV testing in children. “There was a great amount of enthusiasm for the translation of research findings into policy, particularly from senior University of Nairobi visitors and local media,” said Anjuli Wagner, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Global Health and member of the study team.
Each day, members from the CATCH team, including Anjuli Wagner, Cyrus Mugo, and Verlinda Otieno spoke with over 40 individuals interested in continuing to be part of the discussion about CATCH’s work. The team also visited with nearby stands and discovered valuable new connections with other pediatric health advocates.
We’re sending CATCH our congratulations for their engagement and innovation in Nairobi!
For more information about CATCH, take a look at this animated depiction of the project.
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