The Latest News from VIGH

New HIV Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) Point-of-Care (POC) device provides early diagnosis for children in Maganja da Costa District Nurse Jordina Moreira Photo credit: Mariana Lobo

Leocádia cooking in her backyard Photographer: Abú Choe  

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.

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.

In February, the VIGH Student Advisory Council hosted its seventh annual university-wide global health case competition. This year, the competition was held in conjunction with Vanderbilt’s first “Haiti Week,” co-hosted by VIGH and the Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies.

In the rich farmlands of Birua Village, in Furquia Locality, Namacurra District, Zambézia Province, lives 52 year old Paulina Raposo. She has been a traditional birth attendant for 36 years.

"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

A medical team delivered a baby via cesarean section in South Sudan one night in a room lit by flashlights and cellphones. The woman lived and so did her baby. If it hadn't been for a registered nurse trained to administer anesthesia the woman might have become one more mortality statistic on a continent where needing a c-section can mean death. While women in East Africa have access to hospitals, anesthesiologists are few and far between.

Vanderbilt faculty from across campus will have a strong presence at the 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). In particular, VIGH core faculty Muktar Aliyu M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H and Kate Clouse Ph.D., M.P.H. and VIGH affiliated faculty will be presenting their work on optimizing the PMTCT cascade. See more details about their work and other Vanderbilt researchers below:

The Trans-Institutional Programs (TIPs) initiative aims to foster collaboration among schools, researchers and students at Vanderbilt. It is the centerpiece of the 2013-14 Academic Strategic Plan. The investment of $50 million will fund programs devoted to discovery and learning with an “interdisciplinary” and “multidisciplinary” approach that address society’s most pressing problems. The program launched in November of 2014.

Registration is open for Save the Children's annual Advocacy Summit April 10 - 11 in Washington, D.C. Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization committed to providing food, education and medical care to children facing day-to-day struggles such as poverty, illiteracy, hunger and disease. Save the Children's Advocacy Summit organizes, educates, motivates and activates individuals to make global change that will positively impact children in need.

Researchers at the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) recently received a two-year, $895,072 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study whether an integrated, family-focused approach can prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV—the AIDS virus—in Nigeria.

Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies Director Ted Fischer developed a project called Mani+ in 2008 to combat chronic malnutrition in Guatemalan children. Several teams of Project Pyramid students from Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management, led by Bart Victor, recently helped develop a business plan for the project. Sarah Roper, Hudson Baird, Thomas Davis, Jillian Currie and Robert Tauscher were among an interdisciplinary group of Vanderbilt students who contributed to the business and implementation plans.