The Latest News from VIGH

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.

In a recent study of self-reported non-receipt of HIV test results in Mozambican adults, VIGH researchers and colleagues discovered an understudied problem in HIV testing and counseling services and suggested targeted and individualized communication approaches for specific demographic groups.

The Global Health Case Competition is an opportunity for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to collaborate in developing innovative solutions to a global health problem. Participants compete in teams of 4-6 students. Each team must have at least three (3) different Vanderbilt or Meharry schools/colleges represented. Global health is an interdisciplinary field and draws its strength from a diversity of perspectives.

VIGH faculty and colleagues surveyed 30 comprehensive HIV clinics in Nigeria and found they are experiencing major challenges in providing routine HIV services as a result of PEPFAR’s policy changes. The findings were published in PLOS ONE.

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.

Dramatic reduction in specimen turnaround time and access to thousands of viral load results offers significant life-saving opportunities Viral load sample verification Photo credit: Rui Esmael

Marie Martin, PhD, MEd, assistant professor of Health Policy, has been named associate director for Education and Training in the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH). Marie Martin, PhD, MEdMartin stepped into the role at the beginning of the fiscal year, succeeding Douglas Heimburger, MD, MS, who will focus his time on leading projects with grant funding from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Heimburger started in 2009 as associate director of Education and Training.

   

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, with Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, will conduct a 60-site cluster randomized clinical trial in three cities in northern Nigeria to determine the efficacy of shifting childhood epilepsy care to epilepsy-trained community health extension workers with a five-year $5.9 million federal grant, “Bridging the Childhood Epilepsy Treatment Gap in Africa (BRIDGE),” from National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health. Edwin Trevathan, M.D., M.P.H., Amos Christie Chair in Global Health, Professor of Pedi

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has been awarded a five-year, $1.2 million federal grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health to evaluate and build a research capacity program in implementation science and clinical trial management to address Ebola, Lassa fever and other viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) in Sierra Leone. The Partnership for Research in Emerging Viral Infections-Sierra Leone (PREVSL) will address gaps and improve existing research capacity at in-country partner institutions. 

Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has been awarded a five-year, $1.2 million renewal of its Mozambique Collaborative Research Ethics Education Program supported by the Fogarty International Center of the NIH. In Portuguese, the Formação Colaborativa em Etica na Pesquisa or FoCEP Program is tailored to Portuguese speaking Africa.

Zambézia increased the number of people living with HIV, achieving an undetectable viral load Twenty-seven year old Marcos Gabriel lives in Zambézia Province with his wife and three children. To earn his family’s daily bread he dedicates himself to mining, a job that demands health and strength.

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

"Mentors are teachers but not all teachers are mentors." Lackson Kasonka, Senior Mentor The next generation of global health researchers, scientists and practitioners are benefiting from a mentoring program at the University of Zambia (UNZA) in Lusaka with the help of colleagues from the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with support from the Fogarty International Center.

Last week Vanderbilt faculty and staff welcomed Adam Habib, Ph.D., M.Phil., vice chancellor and principal of University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) from Johannesburg, South Africa, to the Vanderbilt campus for discussions on partnership opportunities to create new, innovative programs and research initiatives.