DGHI News: 43 Students Graduate with Global Health Certificate

"Part of our strategy is how do we turn the corner and reach populations that we haven't been able to reach 30 years into the epidemic, either because they are reluctant to seek medical care or don't know they are infected," said Whetten. "So I'm excited about beginning this access to care initiative in North Carolina, and excited that it fits into the Obama administration's plan for the nation and perhaps turning the tide on HIV/AIDS."

The North Carolina Community AIDS Fund at the Center for Health Policy has been awarded a three-year $1 million grant from the National AIDS Fund to increase access to medical care among individuals living with HIV/AIDS in three areas across the state. It's one of five new projects funded by the National AIDS Fund, and will be the largest privately-funded access to care initiative in North Carolina to date.

The goals of the first-of-its-kind initiative will be to identify and address the barriers that prevent people from receiving medical care, engage the HIV positive population earlier in their disease in an effort to reduce HIV transmission, and improve the ability of agencies in the state to provide HIV education and referral services. The initiative aims to reach an estimated 1,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

Read the press release for details about the new program, its community partners and the barriers that prevent HIV+ individuals from seeking care.

DGHI Rwandan Training Program Featured at 2010 African Medical Education Symposium

The work of DGHI members Jeffrey Wilkinson and Nathan Thielman, Duke Global Health Fellow Ruchi Puri and Rwandan collaborators was featured at the 2010 African Medical Education Symposium (AMES), held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last month.

Duke and DGHI are collaborating with the National University of Rwanda to develop and carry out an innovative emergency obstetrics training program that will build capacity and help to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes in the region. The training program began on Monday. Learn more.

The Rwandan training program was highlighted as an example of a cooperative collaboration that shows promise in the field of medical education in sub-Saharan Africa.

AMES brought together key leaders in medical education, health policy, and health system strengthening from academia, government, NGOs, foundations, and global health initiatives to address issues related to capacity building, accountability, sustainability, and retention in medical education in Africa.

Novel Pouch Could Reduce Mother-to-Infant HIV Infection

By using medications packaged just like fast-food ketchup, HIV-positive mothers in developing countries can more easily provide protection to newborn babies born at home.

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed an inexpensive and easy-to-use system that allows mothers to give their newborns a potentially life-saving dose of an anti-HIV medication shortly after birth. This is especially important since such drugs can only be found in clinics or hospitals, which can be days away from an expectant mother.

Timing is crucial for the newborn. In order to be effective, the drug, known as Nevirapine, must be given to the newborn within days of birth. The challenge to date has been reaching distant mothers who give birth at home. Since most mothers are not up to traveling that soon after delivery to get medication, the biomedical engineers developed a way of providing the medication in a simple manner and with a long shelf-life --- pouches made of foil and plastic that can hold a single dose of Nevirapine.

Read more from the Pratt School of Engineering.

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This article was featured in "Futurity" which combines top research news from a consortium of universities in the US and the UK, including Duke.