PrEParing family planning clinics in Kenya to prevent new HIV infections

In sub-Saharan Africa, many young women and adolescent girls are at high risk of HIV infection. In a new research paper published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine, Kenneth Mugwanya and co-authors report on a study aiming to investigate the feasibility of providing antiretroviral drugs via family planning clinics to prevent HIV infection in young women.

How Climate Change Threatens our Health in the Pacific Northwest

Around this time last year, news outlets blared alarming headlines: Breathing the air outside was as bad as smoking several cigarettes. Wildfire haze blotted out the sun and turned the moon orange. Weather apps simply listed the forecast as “smoke.”

Just because this summer has been clear, though, doesn’t mean that the environment is doing just fine.

Karin Huster (MPH, 2013) on Battling Ebola Outbreaks in Africa: ‘It’s the Best Job in the World’

Karin Huster encounters death up close, and repeatedly.

She has seen babies perish in their mothers’ arms. She has watched people grieve as their loved ones were buried in white body bags drenched in bleach. She has survived a clinic where she worked being attacked, burned and shot at.

“It’s the best job in the world,” she says. “And I don’t mean this lightly.”

Eteni Longondo (MPH, 2005) Named Head of Ministry of Public Health in DRC

Dr. Eteni Longondo (MPH, 2005) has been appointed head of the Ministry of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After studying medicine at the University of Kinshasa in his native DRC, Longondo received a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington. 

In addition to his work with the Ministry of Public Health, Longondo's experience also includes working as a doctor for Congo's national soccer team, serving as a general practitioner in Switzerland, and work with World Vision and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Trial in Africa Probes Antibiotic’s Effects on Child Mortality

In the mid-2000s, researchers conducted a clinical trial in Ethiopia to see what it would take to eliminate trachoma, a disease caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis and the most common cause of blindness from infection worldwideThey randomly gave one- to 10-year-old kids either the antibiotic azithromycin to clear and prevent infection or delayed their treatment until after the trial ended.

Climate Change Could be Creating a Mosquito Paradise

This year’s catastrophic flooding has created hard times for many people in Midwest, but it’s created a nirvana for mosquitoes.

Kansas City and the surrounding region could potentially become a hotbed for mosquito-borne viruses like West Nile virus in the coming years due to increasing temperatures and more frequent flooding, which are predicted by climate experts.

Cory Morin, an Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health, is quoted in this story.

New Test is First in U.S. to Help Detect New STD Threat

It is hard to get much of a reputation if nobody knows you’re around, and that has definitely been the case for mycoplasma genitalium, the tiny bacteria estimated to be more prevalent than the bug that causes gonorrhea but is almost completely off the public’s radar.

That’s because, until very recently, it has been difficult for front-line physicians to confirm that this particular microbe — the smallest bacteria ever detected — was present in specific patients.

Most Women Use Vaginal Ring for HIV Prevention in Open-Label Study

In an open-label study of women in southern and eastern Africa, a vaginal ring that is inserted once a month and slowly releases an antiviral drug was estimated to reduce the risk of HIV by 39%, according to statistical modeling. In addition, the study found that participants appeared to use the ring more in the open-label study than in a previous clinical trial. These and other results of the HIV Open Label Extension (HOPE) study were presented today at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) in Mexico City.

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