The Latest News from VIGH

Sickle cell disease (SCD), an inherited blood disorder, is prevalent throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 240,000 children are born with SCD each year across the continent of Africa, and up to 70% of those infants born with sickle cell disease die before the age of five. 

A recent study co-authored by Dr. Muktar Aliyu, M.D., MPH, DrPH, professor of Health Policy and Medicine and associate director for research for VIGH, assessed the willingness of students at Bayero University in Nigeria to self-test for HIV. The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages the use of HIV self-testing, especially in areas such as West and Central Africa where 64% of people living with HIV are unaware of their status.

Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has received a new research training grant and a renewal for an existing training program from the Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build HIV-focused research capacity with key partners in Nigeria and Mozambique. One of the $1.5 million grants will establish The Vanderbilt-Nigeria Building Research Capacity in HIV/Non-communicable Diseases (V-BRCH) Program to build capacity of Nigerian investigators to successfully initiate and implement high-quality clinical trials in HIV-associated non-communicable diseases.

This year, 11 students graduated with a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Global Health, and seven received the Graduate Certificate in Global Health. Although official in-person Vanderbilt University graduations have been postponed to May 2021, the MPH Program held a virtual celebration for graduates and their families, friends, and mentors on May 8. The celebration included heartwarming presentations from students about their experiences in the Program and celebrated students who received awards. Congratulations, graduates!

At the end of March, the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health received a long-awaited message from Liberia – the 40-foot shipping container of medical books and other laboratory equipment donated by the Vanderbilt School of Medicine had survived it’s journey across the ocean and arrived at its final destination, the University of Liberia. The letter signaled the end of a nearly year-long donation effort at Vanderbilt and the beginning of new opportunities for current and future medical students in Liberia.

South Africa has more HIV/AIDS patients than any other country and is home to the world’s largest antiretroviral program. According to the World Bank, as of 2018 the prevalence of HIV among South Africans ages 15 to 49 was 20.4%. Nearly one in three pregnant women attending antenatal care in South Africa is living with HIV. As South Africans with HIV move around the country, there is a risk they will disengage from the health care system or otherwise become lost to follow-up care.

Justin Banerdt, a fourth-year MD/MPH candidate, received the 2020 Excellence in Public Health Award from the United States Public Health Service Physician Professional Advisory Committee in recognition of his commitment to expanding access to care for underserved populations across resource-restricted settings worldwide.

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.

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.