“Terrorism, Healthcare, and Displacement in the West African Sahel,” the second event in a series of workshops hosted by the GlobalVU initiative, will take place on Feb. 21 in the Student Life Center’s Board of Trust Room.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has partnered with Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) in Kano, Nigeria to improve epilepsy treatment uptake. The groups will conduct a randomized trial in three cities in northern Nigeria to determine the efficacy of shifting epilepsy care to community health workers.

In a recent study of self-reported non-receipt of HIV test results in Mozambican adults, VIGH researchers and colleagues discovered an understudied problem in HIV testing and counseling services and suggested targeted and individualized communication approaches for specific demographic groups.

The Global Health Case Competition is an opportunity for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to collaborate in developing innovative solutions to a global health problem. Participants compete in teams of 4-6 students. Each team must have at least three (3) different Vanderbilt or Meharry schools/colleges represented. Global health is an interdisciplinary field and draws its strength from a diversity of perspectives.

VIGH faculty and colleagues surveyed 30 comprehensive HIV clinics in Nigeria and found they are experiencing major challenges in providing routine HIV services as a result of PEPFAR’s policy changes. The findings were published in PLOS ONE.

The University of Zambia (UNZA)-Vanderbilt Training Partnership for HIV-Nutrition-Metabolic Research (UVP) made substantial progress on its goals of training new UNZA PhD scientists to investigate complex nutritional and metabolic factors related to long-term HIV complications and comorbidities. The paper entitled, "HIV Research Training Partnership of the University of Zambia and Vanderbilt University: Features and Early Outcomes," was recently published in Annuals of Global Health.

Dramatic reduction in specimen turnaround time and access to thousands of viral load results offers significant life-saving opportunities Viral load sample verification Photo credit: Rui Esmael

Marie Martin, PhD, MEd, assistant professor of Health Policy, has been named associate director for Education and Training in the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH). Marie Martin, PhD, MEdMartin stepped into the role at the beginning of the fiscal year, succeeding Douglas Heimburger, MD, MS, who will focus his time on leading projects with grant funding from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Heimburger started in 2009 as associate director of Education and Training.