Scientific Priority Areas
February 23, 2017
WACh Priority Areas in Focus: Family Planning Decision Support
Categories: Research
Tags: Family Planning Decision Support, Scientific Priority Areas
Our third and final Scientific Priority Area hones in on the life-saving ability of family planning services. Women face significant barriers to finding a contraception method that fits their unique needs, or gaining access to support to make informed reproductive decisions.
By providing new support and data collection tools, we can bring the health care system closer to women and their families, bring their health concerns to the attention of decision makers, and reduce the unmet need for family planning.
We can provide Family Planning Decision Support.
February 17, 2017
WACh Priority Areas in Focus: Gut Health and Child Survival
Categories: Research
Tags: Gut Health and Child Survival, Scientific Priority Areas
Global WACh Scientific Priorities develop a deeper focus on our research efforts to decrease morbidity and mortality among women, adolescents, and children. Gut Health and Child Survival is vital to understanding and improving this inter-generational health and well-being.
When we asked this scientific priority’s co-lead, Dr. Patricia Pavlinac, what the greatest challenge is to developing interventions for enteric and diarrheal disease, she says, “Even among children who survive diarrhea, multiple episodes of the disease and the underlying enteric infections can lead to chronic malnutrition, increased risk of lower respiratory tract infections, cognitive disabilities, and poor school performance. These consequences hold extreme economic and societal implications.”
Gut Health and Child Survival is our response to the unmet need for programs to treat and prevent the adverse effects of enteric and diarrheal disease. We strive to ensure children survive and reach their developmental potential.
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.
It is from this this perspective that we introduce three newly articulated scientific priority areas to guide Global WACh in our mission to make scientific discoveries, cultivate leaders, and bridge disciplines to advance the tightly connected health and well-being of women, adolescents and children.
Our Scientific Priorities:
- HIV Through the Lifecycle
- Gut Health and Child Survival
- Family Planning Decision Support
We’ve refined our Core identities into three Scientific Priority Areas to clearly convey how Global WACh contributes to research that accelerates health improvements and decreases unnecessary deaths of women, adolescent and children. We hope this deeper focus will enrich our collaborations and expand our capacity to contribute and implement research with meaningful effects on the health of women, adolescents, and children.
Throughout the coming weeks, we will share a post about these three Scientific Priority Areas: what their specific response to global health challenges will be, their missions and focus areas, and what their leadership is most excited about moving forward.
We look forward to sharing our continued commitment to WACh research with you!