Infectious disease faculty are partnering with South African colleagues to conduct research to reduce HIV transmission, including developing HIV treatment interventions for men living with HIV and planning to have children and HIV prevention interventions for women exposed to HIV and planning to have a child. They are also conducting research to identify optimal, cost-effective screening strategies that decrease the burden of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in South African women during pregnancy and reduce adverse birth outcomes in an effort to update WHO’s syndromic management guidelines.
Another group from the Department of Infectious Diseases is working to understand the mechanisms behind Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) which can lie dormant but suddenly cause disease. The team is conducting research and service around the effects and persistence of the asymptomatic disease in South Africa.
Other initiatives include UAB occupational therapists working to assist low-visioned people through increased occupational therapist programming and accessibility. UAB surgery faculty have learned to conduct transplants using kidneys from people who lived with HIV from faculty at the University of Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital and have in turn worked with the hospital to establish a paired exchange program.
Leading UAB Faculty for South Africa Initiatives
Partners
Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI)
Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, South Africa
Foundation for Professional Development, Research Unit, East London, South Africa
Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital
Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa
School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town
South African National Health Laboratory Service
South African Optometric Association