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Greetings!
DGHI faculty are conducting cutting-edge research that is informing policy and practice in the US and around the world. Today we bring you findings from papers published this week on domestic violence counseling in HIV testing centers in Tanzania and the stockpile of vaccines in pandemics. This Thursday is the fourth annual School of Nursing Global Health lecture featuring Russell Porter, coordinator of the Haiti Task Team at US Agency for International Development. He will discuss USAID's vision for post-earthquake Haiti at 4:30 pm at the School of Nursing. Finally, be sure to check out the DGHI student blog which is still active while graduate and medical students are conducting research in the field. Stay connected by subscribing to the blog here.
Until next week, Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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HIV Testing Centers May Be Appropriate Venues for Domestic Violence Screening, Counseling
 A new study by Duke global health researchers recommends domestic violence screening and counseling be administered at HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) centers. The study is among the first of its kind to provide evidence on the prevalence and risk factors associated with domestic violence in northern Tanzania.
Of more than 2,400 women interviewed at an HIV VCT site in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania, one in five women reported physical or sexual violence during their lifetime, and a third of those women experienced violence frequently. The study also found that among women with a history of violence, 78% reported physical violence, 61% reported sexual violence and 39% reported both at least once in their lifetime. Published in International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics this week, the study suggests that most women are at risk for domestic violence and identifies risk factors for the most vulnerable population. Researchers found that domestic violence, defined in this study as intimate partner violence (IPV), was reported more often among women who are older, unemployed, less educated, married or divorced, and have children. Also, women with IPV were more likely to suspect HIV or infidelity in their sexual partner or have a sexual partner who has multiple partners.
The study, led by senior author Nathan Thielman, has important implications for nongovernmental organizations and policy makers since domestic violence places an increasingly recognized burden on women's health and public health worldwide.
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Stockpiling Antivirals in Case of Pandemic Not Cost-effective for Most Countries
Stockpiling antiviral drugs significantly reduces the number of deaths and total costs of a pandemic, but researchers at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and Duke
University Medical Center have found that many nations can't afford to buy and maintain a reserve supply of essential antivirals under current prices.
Published today in the
Journal of Royal Society Interface, new research shows that the ideal stockpile size to cover up to 25% of a country's population should a pandemic occur is too expensive for approximately two thirds of the world population. The research team, which includes Duke-NUS Professor of Medicine and DGHI Affiliate David Matchar, based its results on the World Health Organziation's cost effectiveness target of three times the per capita gross national income.
The countries considered in this analysis include Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Zimbabwe.
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Symposium to Address Impact of Global Climate Change on Human Health
The Student International Discussion Group and Duke Global Health Institute are co-sponsoring a timely day-long symposium entitled, "Beyond the Brink: Addressing Human Health and Security in a Changing Climate." Leading global  experts will convene to discuss the effects of global climate change on human health, extreme weather, water scarcity, food security, the spread of disease and other impacts that affect us today and will affect future generations to come.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Samuel S. Myers, serves as Staff Physician at Mount Auburn Hospital, a Research Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At Harvard, Dr. Myers' primary research interest is in the human health impacts of large-scale anthropogenic environmental change.
The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided for attendees. A reception with wine and refreshments will follow at 5 p.m. at the Hall of Science in the Levine Science Research Center. Register by this Thursday, February 4.
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 MacArthur Foundation Honors ARTH, Indian partner of Duke Global Semester Abroad Program
Action Research & Training for Health (ARTH) promotes sexual and reproductive health, neonatal and child health, and health systems and policy in India's predominantly rural Rajasthan state. ARTH demonstrates 24x7 rural delivery and newborn care, trains skilled birth attendants, and operates referral systems for complications, increasing women's access to maternal care.India leads the world in the number of women who die during childbirth - with a fifth of the global total - as women throughout rural, impoverished regions often deliver at home without a trained attendant. ARTH offers field-based health services in two districts with an impoverished rural and tribal population of 58,000, while carrying out research, training, and advocacy work across the state of Rajasthan, with a population of 66 million.
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