Using Art To Explore Advancements In HIV Science

Forbes

As scientists, clinicians, policy makers and activists gathered this week in Brisbane, Australia, for a conference on HIV/AIDS, all of them certainly expected to hear about the latest scientific advancements. Many of them probably used some of their free time to explore the rich cultural offerings of the host city. Probably only a few, though, imagined that they could view an exhibition that explored HIV/AIDS through art.

Elizabeth Bukusi, research professor of global health and obstetrics and gynecology in the UW School of Medicine, is quoted.

Preventing HIV in Uganda: Increasing Access to Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Among People Who Inject Drugs

A new grant will help deliver HIV prevention services to people in Uganda who are injecting drugs.

Renee Heffron and Andrew Mujugira are key personnel on the grant, which will support research through 2025. The project will implement pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), train a mental health staff, and also include project implementation, data collection, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination of the results to communities.

STREAM Study Shows Point-of-Care Viral Load Testing Can Improve HIV Outcomes

The Simplifying HIV TREAtment and Monitoring (STREAM) study, led by Global Health professor Paul Drain and recently published in The Lancet HIV, found that point-of-care HIV viral load monitoring and task shifting significantly improved viral suppression and retention in HIV care, as compared to standard laboratory-based HIV viral load testing. This study was the first randomized controlled trial to compare rapid point-of-care HIV viral load testing against standard of care lab-based HIV viral load testing, which usually takes several weeks to return results to patients.

New Research Aimed at Promoting Better Patient Adherence to HIV Medications

Paul Drain—an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health, Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Washington—and his research team have received a new grant from the CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund, a program intended to help bridge the gap between academic research grants and the level of development needed to obtain investment. Drain’s project is titled “Rapid test for measuring adherence to antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis”.  

Lessons from Africa on How to Fight an Infection (UW Medicine - Quotes Ruanne Barnabas)

In parts of Africa, where the HIV rate is 36 percent, researchers tested out a simple idea: They made access to care easier for people living with a chronic condition.

In a nearly three-year study in South Africa and Uganda, researchers used mobile vans in five communities to dispense care and treatment to 1,315 people living with HIV and not on antiretroviral treatment.

The randomized controlled trial, conducted between May 2016 and March 2019, found that viral suppression was 74 percent, compared to 63 percent for those seen in a clinic.

Simple Method to Prevent HIV in South Africa and Uganda Works (EurekAlert! - Quotes Ruanne Barnabas)

In parts of Africa, where the rate of HIV is high, researchers found that using mobile vans to dispense antiretroviral treatment and other care greatly increased viral suppression.

Researchers enrolled 1,315 people living with HIV and not on antiretroviral treatment in a nearly three-year study in South Africa and Uganda using mobile vans to dispense treatment.

Point-of-Care HIV Viral Load Testing Combined with Task Shifting to Improve Treatment Outcomes (The Lancet - Includes Paul Drain, Ruanne Barnabas, and Connie Celum)

Point-of-care HIV viral load testing combined with task shifting can improve viral suppression and retention in care by up to 14% and enable rapid care decisions, suggest results of a clinical trial led by the University of Washington and the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA).

New Project Aims to Optimize HIV Treatment in South Africa

Over half of the 37 million people worldwide living with HIV are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), yet only half of those people have suppressed replication of HIV with appropriate ART. A new project led by Dr. Paul Drain, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Global Health and Medicine at the University of Washington, aims to provide insight into the acceptability, feasibility, and impact of scaling-up the delivery of ART among adolescents and young adults living with HIV in community-based settings. Dr.

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