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Several new studies by HIV Center researchers have
received funding, on themes as diverse as HIV
prevention among the mentally ill in Brazil,
the promise of topical microbicides, sexual
practices in South Africa, the impact of HIV
rapid testing, and the promotion of research
ethics. Below is an overview of new studies by
HIV Center investigators Joanne Mantell, Alex
Carballo-Dieguez, Milton Wainberg, and Robert
Klitzman.
 HIV Investigators have projects
in South America and Africa
In South Africa, neither general medical nor
HIV-specific treatment practices routinely
address issues of HIV serodiscordant discordant
or untested partners. Also unaddressed are the
HIV protection needs and fertility goals of
those who are HIV-positive. Thus, many women
and men infected with HIV have insufficient
information about reproductive choice and
parenting options. Through an R01 grant from by
the National Institutes of Mental Health
(NIMH),
Joanne Mantell and team have begun working
in Cape Town, South Africa to develop a
multi-level structural intervention that
simultaneously addresses stigma and poor access
to reproductive health services. The
intervention will also introduce best-practices
counseling approaches that maximize sexual risk
reduction based on clients' personal
situations.
Mantell is also one of two HIV Center
investigators to recently receive funding from
the American Foundation for AIDS Research
(AmFAR) on the role of anal intercourse in HIV
transmission. She will be studying to study the
prevalence, frequency, meaning, social
dynamics, and contexts of anal sex practices
among men and women in South Africa.
Alex Carballo-Dieguez has also recently
received funding from AmFAR regarding
development of a device for delivery of a
rectal microbicide, a compound that could be
used to block HIV transmission during anal
intercourse.
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Collaborating with researchers at
the international non-profit health
organization PATH in Seattle, the HIV Center
researchers seek to promote development of an
inexpensive standard rectal MDD that can be
used across rectal microbicide trials and
ensure ease of use, comfort, and effective
delivery of microbicide gel.
Carballo-Dieguez and team also recently
received a supplement from the NIMH Office of
AIDS Research to study how HIV-negative women
might make use of a rapid HIV test that can be
used at home, such as to determine the HIV
status of sexual partners.
Funded by an R01 grant from NIMH,
Milton
Wainberg will be conducting a randomized
control trial in Brazil to test the long-term
efficacy of the HIV prevention intervention
developed by his team for people with severe
mental illness. The study will build on the
team's existing community partnerships and
expand collaboration to include the local
authorities of the city of Rio de Janeiro. All
nine municipal community mental health clinics
in Rio de Janeiro will serve as sites for the
proposed study. By developing a partnership
emphasizing bi-directional capacity building of
community, academic and service-provision
institutions, the study will offer a model that
can be implemented in a variety of public
health settings worldwide.
Also funded through an R01 grant from NIMH,
Robert
Klitzman is continuing his long-term
examination of research ethics with a study of
the vital role of Institutional Review Boards
(IRBs) in observing, monitoring, and responding
to research integrity issues in HIV-related and
other areas. The study will determine what
issues IRBs confront related to research
integrity; how frequently they do so; how they
respond – or feel they should respond – to
these problems; and what needs they have for
further guidelines, regulations, training, or
resources to enhance research integrity. The
study will identify and describe the ways in
which IRBs address and respond to the problems
that arise, and factors that may be involved.
The goal will be to improve education of IRB
members, researchers, and others, refine
guidelines and policy, and foster further
research.
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