News
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.
July 18, 2016
Global WACh Family Planning Study Completes its First Day of Training
Categories: Research
Tags: Family Planning, Mobile WACh
The unmet need for contraception in Kenya in the postpartum period, or months following childbirth, is high. This unmet need contributes to poor maternal and child health outcomes, and impedes women’s empowerment.
Mobile WACh XY is a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing the effect of bidirectional SMS dialogue vs. control on highly effective contraceptive use at 6 months postpartum among individual women and couple dyads in Nyanza Province, Kenya. The study builds upon the experience of other Global WACh mHealth studies using a text messaging platform that pushes automated messages containing critical information at crucial times and allows users to respond and converse with a health professional about their individual needs. Mobile WACh XY differentiates itself in the family planning arena by including an emphasis on male partner involvement and couple communication. Male partners need to be invited to participate in the study, given the desire to include men while continuing to promote women’s reproductive autonomy.
The XY team is led by Drs. Elizabeth Harrington, Jennifer Unger and John Kinuthia. This Global WACh study team completed its first week of training in Kisumu, Kenya last week.
Over the next 6 months they will enroll 220 women in the study, and up to 220 men—depending on female participants’ preferences. Information gathered will provide insight into the effectiveness of an mHealth strategy to help meet women’s and couples’ postpartum contraceptive needs, and have policy implications for postpartum family planning programming.
Congratulations to everyone involved! We look forward to sharing your progress.
June 28, 2016
Global WACh Toto Bora Trial aims to reduce childhood mortality
Categories: Nutrition, Research
Tags: Ethiopia, malnutrition, microbiome, Pediatrics, Tota Bora
Toto Bora, an expression meaning “healthy baby” in Kiswahili, enrolled its first pediatric patient today in a research trial aimed at reducing childhood morbidity and mortality in the months after a hospitalization.
In sub-Saharan Africa, childhood mortality remains unacceptability high. Children who are hospitalized and subsequently discharged are a group of children at particularly high risk, yet few interventions exist for the post-discharge period. A recent trial found that the mass drug administration of azithromycin reduced childhood mortality by half among children in Ethiopia in communities receiving the intervention. The Toto Bora team, led by Drs. Judd Walson, MD, MPH and Patricia Pavlinac, PhD MS, believes that children being discharged from hospital represent an accessible high-risk population in which targeted use of this broad-spectrum antibiotic may have dramatic impact.
In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, children discharged from hospitals in Kisii and Homa Bay counties of Kenya are randomized to a 5-day course of azithromycin or placebo and followed for six months to determine the efficacy of azithromycin in reducing post-discharge morbidity and mortality. Stool, nasopharyngeal swabs, and blood samples are also being collated from children to evaluate the effect of the intervention on enteric and nasopharyngeal infections, malaria, the gut microbiome, and systematic inflammation. The emergence of antibiotic resistance among treated individuals and their primary caregivers will also be assessed and cost-effectiveness analyses performed to inform policy decisions.
The Toto Bora Trial began enrollment on June 28, 2016 and is estimated to be complete data collection in June 2019. Congratulations to this Global WACh team for launching this important study to generate evidence on effective interventions to reduce childhood mortality in Kenya!
Read more about Toto Bora on the clinicaltrials.gov website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02414399
May 31, 2016
The Next Big thing: Adolescent Health
Categories: students, Talks and Events
Tags: adolescent health
You’re invited to our end of year celebration showcasing the achievements of Global WACh students, faculty, grantees, and scholars around the world.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Bruder Stapleton, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics
Other Speakers include Drs. Minnie Kibore, Meghan Moreno, Pamela Kohler and Anthony Roche.
Thursday, June 2nd 2016
Foege Auditorium, University of Washington
3720 15th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98105
May 5, 2016
Current Topics and Methods in Microbiome Research Workshop
Categories: Research, Talks and Events
Tags: microbiome, nutrition
Event Date & Time
May 26, 2016 – 8:30am to 5:00pm
Check-in begins at 8am. The workshop starts at 8:30 and continues until 5pm.
Location
Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Westlake Conference Room
West 8th Building (2001 8th Ave), Seattle, WA
Goal: The goal of the workshop is to share ongoing microbiome research being conducted by the University of Washington and partnering institutions and in doing so, to identify synergies and shared interests to strengthen research and build new collaborations.
Speakers from the University of British Columbia, the Forsyth Institute, University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Children’s Hospital, and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation will present short talks and engage in panel discussions on topics including:
- The gut microbiome and its role in enteric health and disease
- The oral microbiome and its role in oral health and disease
- The genital microbiome and its role in sexual and reproductive health
- Statistical methods for microbiome data
- Research priorities for women, adolescents, and children: thinking across the host microbiome
May 2, 2016
Preparing for an Emerging Zika Virus Epidemic
Categories: Research, Talks and Events
Tags: Panel Discussion, Zika Virus
Join us for an expert panel drawn from public health, medicine, and bioengineering to discuss what we know, what we don’t know, and how to prepare
The University of Washington Global Center for the Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents and Children (Global WACh) is pleased to host an expert panel discussion to disseminate up-to-date information about Zika virus, its public health impact locally and globally, and what the general public and health care professionals need to know about preventing infection and minimizing the risk of birth defects due to Zika virus infection in pregnancy.
Event Details
Friday, May 6, 2016
3:00-5:00PM
Hogness Auditorium
Health Sciences Building, UW Medical Center (more…)
April 4, 2016
Global WACh Now Accepting Applications for Small Change Awards
Tags: Small Change
Download the 2016 instructions and application here (closed).
Deadline: May 1, 2016
Small Changes With Big Impact
The University of Washington Center for Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents, and Children (Global WACh) aims to contribute to scientific discoveries, nurture leaders, and foster collaborative approaches to improving the health and well-being of women, adolescents, and children. As part of this commitment, Global WACh supports Small Change Awards that empower local front-line care providers to identify targets for clinical improvement, compete for support, and advocate for their patients. Small Change awards improve the patient experience in limited and middle income countries by improving clinical care, patient satisfaction, workforce empowerment, and health service delivery for programs benefiting the health of women, adolescents and children. (more…)
March 7, 2016
Breakfast with WACh with Mark J. Manary
Categories: Talks and Events
Tags: Breakfast with WACh, nutrition
Join us for breakfast and a lecture sponsored by the CFAR Enterics Study Team and Global WACh on Wednesday and Thursday March 9th .
“The future of food and nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa”
Dr. Mark J. Manary
Washington University School of Medicine
Wednesday, March 9th, 9:00-10:00AM
Ninth and Jefferson Building, Room 1360
Harborview Medical Center
Watch the full talk on Global WACh’s YouTube.
January 7, 2016
Breakfast with WACh with Dr. Christy McKinney
Categories: Talks and Events
Tags: Breakfast with WACh, breastfeeding, neonatal health
Christy McKinney PhD, MPH joined Global WACh as part of our lecture series with an exciting presentation on The NIFTY™ Cup: A Neonatal Intuitive Feeding Technology for Infants who have Difficulty Breastfeeding in Low-Resource Settings.
Dr. McKinney is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Health Sciences and the Academic Research Coach for the Division of Internal Medicine at the University of Washington. She received her MPH from Tulane University in 2002 and her PhD from the University of Washington in 2006, both in epidemiology. She is the recipient of an NIH Institute for Translational Health Sciences KL2 career development award, which she completed in 2014.
Her research areas include the etiology of oral clefts, feeding infants with breastfeeding difficulties, bisphenol A in dental materials, and the application of research methods in clinical contexts. She is the recipient of an NIH R01 to conduct a prospective cohort study to examine the extent to which children are exposed to bisphenol A during dental treatment.
She is co-Principal Investigator of a recently awarded Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenges grant award that involves evaluating the Neonatal Intuitive Feeding Technology (NIFTY™) cup in Ethiopia. In her role as Academic Research Coach she provides research methods and implementation guidance to over 30 faculty and 30 different research projects.
December 9, 2015
Breakfast with WACh with Dr. Assaye Nigussie
Categories: Talks and Events
Tags: Breakfast with WACh, maternal health, neonatal health
For this Breakfast with WACh lecture we welcomed Dr. Assaye Kassie Nigussie, Deputy Director, Country Implementation, Newborn & Child Health at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Nigussie, an Ethiopian national, is a Medical Doctor and a qualified Pediatrician from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. Dr. Nigussie has over 20 years of experience in Pediatric Medicine and Neonatology, initially as a clinical instructor, practicing physician and Newborn and Child health researcher, and later as program manager for health programs focusing on Maternal, Neonatal, Child health and health systems. He brings both specific newborn expertise and a wealth of program implementation experiences across the MNCH continuum. He is currently working at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as the Deputy Director of Country Implementation on the MNCH team.
View Dr. Nigussie’s entire presentation on Evidence-Based Strategy Planning for MNCH: Country Experience.
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