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A University at Buffalo (UB)
research team led by Gene Morse, PharmD, associate director of the
Translational Pharmacology Core and professor of the New York State Center of
Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, traveled to Zimbabwe for a
week-long series of workshops that marked the launch of two national programs,
the Zimbabwe International Nanotechnology Center (ZINC) and Zimbabwe
Evidence-to-Action (ETA), a project to end HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe. The workshops
trained students and scientists in Zimbabwe and served as an opportunity to
identify shared areas for research and prioritize research in Zimbabwe.
Fourteen percent of the Zimbabwe population has both HIV and TB, and there is a
pressing need for new drugs and novel formulations of existing drugs.
ZINC and ETA are the continuation of
a seven-year joint effort supported by a US National Institutes of Health
Fogarty International Center program. Presentations and workshops focused on
the roles of UB and UZ researchers, research priorities in ZINC and ETA, and
training and technical assistance for Zimbabwean scientists and students.
The ETA workshop summarized data on
HIV prevention through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and treatment as
prevention (TaSP), and reviewed results of HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN)
052, which addressed HIV prevention among discordant couples. The workshop
emphasized the need for strategies targeting key populations, including
prisoners, commercial sex workers, men who have sex with men, and pregnant
women.
Other workshops focused on building
laboratory skills, bioanalytical method development; electronic health records,
bioinformatics, and health information technology infrastructure necessary for
ETA in the Zimbabwe health care system; and nutritional considerations for the
ETA program.
Sponsors of the meetings included
the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, the UB-UZ AIDS International
Training and Research Program (AITRP), and the UZ-UB International
Pharmacotherapy Education and Research Initiative (IPERI).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
