The Latest News from VIGH

VIGH awarded $3 million for building research capacity in Nigeria and Mozambique

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.

VUMC and VIGH Investigators Present Findings on Elevated Mortality of Tuberculosis Diagnosis in People Living with HIV

"Among people with HIV in Latin America, those diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) at an initial clinic visit were about twice as likely to die within 10 years as people not initially diagnosed with TB, according to findings from a large observational study. This increased risk persisted despite the availability of TB treatment and mirrored patterns seen previously in HIV-negative populations, according to research supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Featured Publication: Attrition of HIV-exposed infants from early infant diagnosis services in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Research led by Vanderbilt investigators found nearly 40% of HIV-exposed infants in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC) were not in care at 18 months of age or had died. Despite the availability and progress of HIV prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs which includes postpartum follow-up of HIV-positive mothers and their HIV-exposed infants, many infants do not remain engaged in early infant diagnosis (EID) services that are essential to optimal health outcomes.

HIV-positive pregnant women at significant risk of loss to follow up from HIV Care after delivery in South Africa

In 2017, according to UNAIDS, more than 90% of HIV-positive pregnant women accessed antiretroviral (ART) medicines to prevent mother-to child transmission of HIV in Southern Africa, and recent research suggests access and adherence to ART remains high during pregnancy due in part to the scale up of national antenatal (ANC) and ART care clinics.  Engagement in HIV care after delivery, however, can be challenging.

Science and PBS report on three places where "ending AIDS" is a distant hope

In 2016, Nigeria accounted for 37,000 of the world's 160,000 new cases of babies born with HIV. The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria does have an exceptionally large HIV-infected population of 3.2 million people. In other countries, however, rates of mother-to-child transmission of HIV have plummeted, even in far poorer countries. Mother-to-child transmission is only one part of Nigeria’s HIV epidemic.

Calling for improved HIV data systems on World AIDS Day

On World AIDS Day, The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, published a blog post by Kate Clouse, Ph.D., MPH, VIGH core faculty. She calls for improved HIV data systems to provide quality care and ensure lifelong engagement in HIV care.

Researchers study unique couples intervention in Mozambique to reduce HIV transmission

Researchers in the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health are testing whether a unique “couples-centered” intervention developed in the southern African nation of Mozambique can reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Nutrition Research Methods Workshop Trains Faculty and Graduate Students in Zambia

Current and past fellows, and faculty of the UNZA-Vanderbilt Training Partnership for HIV-Nutrition Research (UVP). The program is supported by the Fogarty International Center.  

VIDEO: Medical Equipment Arrives in Mozambique

Last year, the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) and Friends in Global Health (FGH) worked together to collect a container full of donated medical supplies, and had it shipped to the Provincial Health Department located in the Zambézia Province of Mozambique. In October 2016, the container arrived in the port of Quelimane. Together with Project C.U.R.E.

Health counselors: A key element in the fight against HIV

"The health counselor is the key member of the team. They are the true pillar. It is with the health counselor that patients have their first contact, on which everything else depends."
 
 ~Mauro Timana – Chefe Médico at Mocubela

For mother and daughter, life is not as it used to be: It is much better!

Amélia Sebastião and her seven year old daughter, Juliana, are healthy and making long-term plans for their lives. Amélia is a Peer Educator assisting patients in her community and Juliana wants to be a District Administrator when she grows up. But this was not the case just a few years ago.

Grant bolsters biomedical ethics efforts in Mozambique

Vanderbilt University researchers have received a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen research ethics capacity in Mozambique.