News

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Kayla Laserson, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Kenya Medical Research Institute Field Research Station in Kenya, writes about why US support for global health research is so critical. Investigators gave more detail about the positive results from the Partners PrEP Study at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle this week. The study found that antiretroviral treatment can prevent HIV transmission in couples where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative. Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency recently granted registration of a new child-friendly dosage of benznidazole, a treatment for Chagas disease. The dosage was developed through a partnership between the Pernambuco State Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Brazil and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. The University of Dundee has received funding from the Wellcome Trust and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline to research some of the world's neglected tropical diseases, including Chagas disease and African sleeping sickness.

Dr. Gaudensia Nzembi Mutua is a research physician at the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI). She is based in Nairobi, Kenya. This post originally appeared on the ONE blog. The first person in Kenya to speak publicly about her participation in an HIV vaccine trial, in 2001, was a woman. She was a former classmate of mine and also a medical doctor. I was fascinated to learn that this exciting research was happening right at my doorstep. Not long after, I left my position in the emergency room of a local hospital to join the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative. It’s becoming more widely known that African women bear the greatest burden of HIV and AIDS worldwide. According to UNAIDS, 59 percent of all people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women. What is less well known is the immense contribution African women have made and continue to make to HIV prevention research. For instance, the first clues that an AIDS vaccine might be possible came from African women. These were a small subset of sex workers in Nairobi and the Gambia who had been repeatedly exposed to HIV, but not infected; they were apparently able to resist the virus. The finding sparked a search—which continues to date—for a vaccine that can teach the body to protect itself against HIV. Two women working in a KAVI lab. Photo credit: PATH/Evelyn Hockstein I am motivated to work in this field because I am convinced that a safe and effective HIV vaccine, one that is made widely available to those who need it most, will be a game-changer for African women. The reality is that millions of women are simply unable to access or negotiate the use of any of the HIV prevention methods currently offered, which makes it critically important that we expand the range of options available. Today is International Women’s Day, which for me is a time to celebrate the contributions women have made to HIV prevention research. Female researchers, volunteers, advocates, and decision-makers around the world dedicate themselves to this cause. It is now more urgent than ever that we sustain support for efforts to develop new tools to prevent HIV infection, specifically ones that address the varied needs of women. A safe and effective HIV vaccine, used in combination with other prevention strategies, is our best hope of ending the AIDS pandemic. But developing new HIV prevention tools takes resources, people, and time—in the laboratory, in safety tests, and in clinical trials. Sustained investments in HIV vaccine research are therefore critical; so is political support. African women are playing a key role in the global endeavor to stop HIV and AIDS, and in the years to come will continue to be a central force in making an HIV vaccine a reality. Join us in this effort!