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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…)


May 12, 2023

Announcing the 2023 Seeds for Change Award Recipients

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After a pause in seed grant programming during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Global WACh is pleased to resume funding activities and announce the nine recipients of the 2023 Seeds for Change Resource Award to Strengthen Collaborative Sites(more…)


April 3, 2023

Cross-functional collaboration offers qualitative data analysis software training for UW students

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Dr. Kristin Beima-Sofie teaching students at the ATLAS.ti Workshop on March 3, 2023.

On March 3rd, a day-long ATLAS.ti workshop was hosted by the UW Qualitative Multi-Method Program (UW-QUAL) and UW Libraries’ Open Scholarship Commons (OSC) to teach students the fundamentals of ATLAS.ti, a popular qualitative data analysis software used in research, such as for an analysis of interviews or literature.  Dr. Kristin Beima-Sofie, Senior Research Scientist with Global WACh in the Department of Global Health, led the workshop where students across campus attended to learn about the software’s research tools and features to improve their analysis skills.

Dr. Saadia Pekkanen, Founding Director of UW-QUAL and Professor of International Studies, supported the workshop as part of the program’s effort to provide education and training for qualitative and policy-relevant data analysis in universities, the private sector, and government.

Dr. Beima-Sofie and Dr. Pekkanen anticipate offering a follow-up workshop in the 2023 spring quarter. More information about this workshop and other qualitative training opportunities can be found on the UW-QUAL website at https://jsis.washington.edu/programs/qual.


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…)


March 22, 2023

New review of WHO HIV testing guidelines informs effective strategies to increase uptake of testing services

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A new systematic review and meta-analysis published in PLOS Medicine informed World Health Organization (WHO) 2019 HIV testing guidelines and assessed the research question, “Which demand creation strategies are effective for enhancing uptake of HIV testing services?” focused on populations globally. HIV testing services (HTS) are the first step in reaching the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals for HIV management and control. Evaluating the effectiveness of different demand creation interventions to increase uptake of HTS is useful to prioritize limited programmatic resources.
(more…)


March 9, 2023

Researchers attend the 2023 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle

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This year, the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) was held in Global WACh’s hometown of Seattle, WA from February 19-22, 2023. CROI is the premier annual scientific conference for the epidemiology and biology of human retroviruses and associated diseases. For the past 30 years, CROI has been a global convening of leading scientists, clinicians, public health experts, among others, where discoveries have been presented that have helped to accelerate progress in HIV/AIDS research.

We’ve compiled a list of 12 accepted poster abstracts with contributions by Global WACh researchers and collaborators. Click on the titles to read the poster. (more…)


March 3, 2023

Researchers convene in Nairobi, Kenya on future childhood development research

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Group photo of several investigators from Kenyatta National Hospital, University of Nairobi, and University of Washington.

A two-day convening in January in Nairobi, Kenya brought together over 30 investigators from a variety of Kenyatta National Hospital, University of Nairobi, and University of Washington studies that include components of assessing childhood neurodevelopment and mental health. This meeting provided a forum to understand how to leverage the recently awarded Impact of Microbiome, Immune Activation and Drug on Neurodevelopment (MIND) Program for ongoing and future childhood development research. Over the course of the meeting, attendees discussed and prioritized the activities for a new MIND Center of Excellence (CoE) that builds off the program. To briefly summarize, the activities include: (more…)


March 2, 2023

New study focuses on immune function to improve treatment of severely malnourished children worldwide

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Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) remains a global public health emergency, especially among young children in limited resource settings who are not consuming enough energy, fat, protein, and other nutrients to maintain healthy bodily functions. This places children at high risk of life-threatening infectious diseases, such as diarrhea and pneumonia. Severely malnourished children are often treated at inpatient and outpatient hospital clinics or feeding centers, using protocols promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO). Treatment currently focuses on initial recovery as defined by anthropometric standards without adequately addressing the health of children after discharge from treatment programs. (more…)



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