DGHI faculty member Wendy O’Meara, who is based in Eldoret, Kenya, has been awarded a two-year $126,000 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to measure changes in the burden of malaria infection and disease over time. Recent studies have shown that serological techniques, which identify specific antibodies in the blood, can be used to rapidly assess malaria exposure at the population level. O’Meara and her research team will incorporate serological measures of malaria into a large intervention trial led by DGHI faculty member Randall Kramer, which will compare the impact of a vector control and a diagnostic intervention. The work seeks to identify changes in population-level exposure to malaria and determine whether antibody tests can be used to measure the effects of interventions that reduce exposure to infection, like insecticide-treated nets, as well as those that reduce the duration of infection, such as diagnostic testing, effective drugs and early treatment.
DGHI faculty members Nathan Thielman and Jan Ostermann have been awarded a two-year $394,731 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study alternative HIV testing options in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. Novel options for HIV testing specifically designed to match the preferences of high-risk and hard-to-reach populations hold promise for improving the uptake of HIV testing. Building on their previous HIV testing work in this region, the research team will use an innovative model called Discrete Choice Experiments to determine what tradeoffs individuals make as they evaluate HIV testing options and which attributes are most likely to increase HIV testing.
DGHI faculty member Kathryn Whetten, director of the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, has been awarded a five-year $82,412 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to evaluate the effectiveness of two mental health interventions targeting orphaned and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS in Zambia. One of the treatment interventions focuses on psychosocial counseling, what is considered the gold standard for addressing mental health among children. The other is a trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy program developed by Whetten’s research team based on extensive research exploring the mental health needs and stress-related problems among orphans. The evaluation, which will include a cost-effectiveness analysis, will measure HIV risk behaviors, emotional and behavioral health, social support and overall well-being and mental health development of these children.
