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Greetings!
The research news continues this week, as we bring you new findings on the effectiveness and barriers to reaching high-risk populations with HIV testing and counseling. See below for the latest faculty research from Tanzania.
Missed one of our recent seminars? You can now watch recordings of most of the DGHI-sponsored lectures on our website.
Attention Duke Doctoral Students: The deadline for the Duke Global Health Scholars Program is Feb. 15. Apply here to be the first to participate!
As always, send us your story ideas and let us know what you think!
Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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Mobile Voluntary HIV Testing Attracts New, High-risk Populations
 New findings by DGHI researchers suggest that mobile voluntary counseling and testing (MVCT) for HIV is effective in reaching and recruiting individuals at high risk of HIV who have not previously been tested and can facilitate their access to HIV care and treatment earlier. The research is also one of the first studies to shed light on the characteristics that prevent others from being tested. Led by DGHI faculty Jan Ostermann and Nathan Thielman, the study tested 900 clients in four MVCT campaigns offered in dispensaries, ward offices, and schools in rural villages in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. MVCT clients reported greater numbers of recent and lifetime partners and higher rates of known or suspected HIV-infected partners. The study in PLoS ONE also showed half of the participants ages 18-50 had never been tested for HIV. Researchers also found the most common reasons individuals did not participate in the free MVCT campaign were associated with local accessibility. In follow-up assessments among more than 300 individuals not tested, 33 percent cited distance from available testing sites, 22 percent could not leave work, and 13 percent were unaware of available testing locations. Other reasons for never being tested included HIV-related stigma and testing-related fears. "Whether expanded HIV testing strategies reduce such barriers and successfully attract new and high-risk testers or attract primarily lower risk repeat testers has substantial implications for their cost effectiveness and for the possible success of universal testing and treatment policies," said Ostermann, the lead author. |
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Annual Blue Jean Ball to Promote Women's Health in East Africa
The fourth annual Blue Jean Ball benefiting the Duke Global Women's Health Initiative takes place February 26, and is expected to attract hundreds of patrons from
 around the Triangle. The event, which includes dinner and a silent auction, is hosted by the Duke University Medical Center's Department of OB/GYN.
In collaboration with DGHI and the Hubert-Yeargan Center for Global Health, the OB/GYN department has developed and supported numerous maternal health projects in East Africa. Each year, over 500,000 women die in childbirth, mostly in low-income countries such as Tanzania. Countless more women are seriously injured as a result of poor access to adequate medical care. The initiative is part of Duke's decades-long partnership with the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre.
At the event, Duke physicians will provide an update on their important work.
"Proceeds from this event support patient care and education in Moshi, Tanzania through Emergency Obstetrics Courses for health care providers, as well as treatment of women with obstetric fistula," said Alice Cooper, chair of the Blue Jean Ball Fundraising Committee and OB/GYN Nurse Practitioner.
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Duke Medicine, Medanta-The Medicity Finalize Agreement for Joint Research Institute in India
Medanta-The Medicity and Duke Medicine finalized multiple agreements to establish the Medanta Duke Research Institute (MDRI) as a new joint venture company in India,  fully realizing the vision for the creation of a world-class early phase clinical research facility at Medanta.
Medanta-The Medicity is a conglomeration of multi-super specialty institutes led by medical practitioners who are leaders in their respective fields from all over the world with the vision to reach the highest levels of excellence in medical care, education and research. An internationally-recognized academic health sciences system, Duke Medicine combines one of the nation's premier health care delivery systems and School of Medicine, one of the largest biomedical research enterprises in the US, a leading School of Nursing, and the innovative Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore.
Representing Duke at the event were Robert M. Califf, vice chancellor for clinical research and director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute; Robert Taber, Duke vice chancellor for corporate and venture development; John Sundy, director of the Duke Clinical Research Unit; and Krishna Udayakumar, director of Duke Medicine Global and faculty member of the Duke Global Health Institute.
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Study Examines Drug, Alcohol Abuse Among HIV Patients with Childhood Abuse
DGHI faculty member Christina Meade, assistant professor of psychiatry and global health, is the lead author of a new paper in Addiction that found group interventions that address coping with HIV and childhood sexual trauma can be effective in reducing alcohol, marijuana and cocaine use. Drug abuse remained lower among study participants at a 12-month follow-up.This is one of few interventions that exist to reduce alcohol and non-injection drug use among people living with HIV/AIDS. Study authors, which also includes DGHI faculty member Kathleen Sikkema, professor of psychology and global health, suggest integrating mental health treatment into HIV prevention to potentially improve health outcomes.
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