September 30 Event:“Transmission in the Community: Studies in High Risk Populations”
The Infectious Disease-Epidemiology Cluster Seminar Series hosted by ICAP and the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health kicks off this year’s series with a presentation from Franklin, Lowy, MD, professor of medicine and pathology in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. “Transmission in the Community: Studies in High Risk Populations” will be held on Friday, September 30, from 3:00-4:30pmin the Allen Rosenfield Building, Room 1101 at the Mailman School of Public Health.
October 11 Event: "Bridging the Divide: A discussion on the 2011 JAIDS Supplement” moderated by Wafaa El-Sadr (ICAP) and Kevin De Cock (CDC) on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 from 3:00-5:00pm in Hess Commons, Allen Rosenfield Building at the Mailman School of Public Health.
WEBINAR RECAP: Elaine Abrams, MD, ICAP Senior Research Director, led ICAP’s Webinar Grand Rounds with a presentation on rapid initiation of ART/ARV during pregnancy. View the webinar
ABOUT ICAP
ICAP was founded in 2004 at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Now a global leader in HIV/AIDS services, ICAP has supported work at more than 1,200 sites across 21 countries. More than one million people have received HIV services through ICAP-supported programs.
For more information about ICAP, visithere. For more information about ICAP leadership, visithere.
Follow ICAP on Facebook Increasing Access to HIV Care and Treatment in Swaziland’s Correctional Institutions
Those who are imprisoned in correctional facilities are often forgotten when it comes to addressing the issue of HIV. According to the World Health Organization, imprisoned individuals may be at a higher risk for HIV acquisition and have limited access to HIV prevention resources. In addition, HIV prevalence in prisons often exceeds that of the general population and most correctional facilities are unable to offer the breadth of health services required for their inmates.
To respond to this need in Swaziland, the Matsapha Correctional Facility and ICAP, in partnership with Swaziland’s Ministry of Health, are supporting a pilot program that offers critical HIV-related services in Matsapha's facility, which houses 500 inmates. ICAP and the Matsapha Correctional Facility aim to expand this initiative to all 12 prisons throughout the country, extending services to incarcerated women and juveniles as well.
Before the pilot program, inmates who needed HIV services had to seek assistance from health service providers outside of the prison. The program in Matsapha now brings care and treatment inside the prison, enabling HIV testing for the incarcerated, engagement in HIV prevention and care, and access to treatment for those found to be HIV infected. The program also includes counseling and psychosocial support and adherence.
Pinkett White, a nurse advisor for ICAP, leads mentoring and training support to the HIV clinic that has been set up at the facility. According to White, the services are being well received by the inmates and the staff.
By the end of May 2011, 283 inmates were tested for HIV, 63 were initiated on antiretroviral treatment (ART), and 100 were enrolled into care. The program continues to expand today. ICAP has also supported the training of 15 inmates as “expert clients” who provide assistance at the clinic, including weighing of clients, adherence counseling, and administrative duties. These expert clients have disclosed their HIV-positive status and use their experience to support others at the same facility.
ICAP is also supporting the process of developing standard operating procedures to guide HIV testing and counseling, TB screening, ART refills, patient monitoring and follow-up, as well as transition into care after discharge from the prison. Additionally, ICAP has helped revive the Prison HIV Committee in Swaziland, and has assisted in transforming it into a multi-disciplinary team to discuss policy issues and chart the way forward. Linking HIV-infected prisoners to ministry of health facilities upon release is an important priority to ensure that they continue to receive care without interruption.
ICAP is supporting similar initiatives in the prison systems in Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire. In Côte d’Ivoire, ICAP has supported six prisons. Of the four that reported data, 1,624 prisoners have received HIV services since October 2010. ICAP is also supporting two prisons in Rwanda, which in 2010 enabled 3,676 inmates to access HIV services.
ICAP Expands Work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
A former school building in Kinshasa is home to an ICAP office in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The country team, led by Faustin Malele, MD, began supporting adult and pediatric HIV care and treatment services in April 2010 with a focus on integrating HIV and tuberculosis (TB) services at four hospitals and 20 TB clinics and health centers.
The World Health Organization estimates that 400,000 to 500,000 Congolese citizens are HIV-infected. Higher rates of HIV are found in Kinshasa and in the eastern provinces and among pregnant women—approximately four percent of pregnant women are infected with HIV. Tuberculosis has also been problematic in the country; DRC ranks as the tenth highest TB burdened country in the world, and the country has lacked a system for integrating TB screening and treatment into the broader scope of HIV services despite the fact that eight percent of TB cases are estimated to be HIV-infected.
Now with a home base from which team members can work, ICAP is supporting efforts to rehabilitate and renovate site and laboratory infrastructure, and expand HIV care and treatment services, which include related nutritional support and TB/HIV coinfection services and procurement of antiretroviral treatments and supplies. As of June 2011, 2,163 people living in the DRC received counseling and testing services—66 percent were women and 13 percent were HIV-positive. Additionally, 79 percent of all TB patients seen at ICAP-supported sites have had an HIV test result and 30 health care workers have completed an in-service training program.
Supported by the DRC’s Ministry of Health, ICAP’s team is beginning work on prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) services, in accordance with the DRC’s national goal to eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV. ICAP is also beginning activities to expand HIV care and treatment services in the southeast Congolese city of Lubumbashi.
Wafaa El-Sadr Discusses Noncommunicable Diseases at World Leaders Forum
ICAP Director Wafaa El-Sadr joined Lance Armstrong (Livestrong), Paul Farmer (PIH), Sanjay Gupta (CNN), and Lawrence Shulman (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) on September 19, 2011 at Columbia University’s Low Memorial Library for a panel discussion on noncommunicable diseases. The panel, “Delivering Hope: Preventing and Treating Noncommunicable Diseases in Developing Countries,” took a critical look at strategies for managing NCDs, which include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.
NCDs are the leading cause of death globally, responsible for the death of an estimated 36 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Some of the poorest and most marginalized populations in resource-limited countries are disproportionately affected by NCDs. Up to 80 percent of NCD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and the World Health Organization estimates that deaths from NCDs will increase by 20 percent in Africa and southeast Asia over the next 10 years.
More than 500 students and guests attended the panel discussion, which was cohosted by the World Leaders Forum and the Mailman School of Public Health and scheduled to coincide with the 2011 UN Summit on Noncommunicable Diseases in New York City. Columbia President Lee Bollinger gave a welcome address, and the dean of the Mailman School, Dr. Linda Fried, provided opening remarks.
During the discussion, El-Sadr addressed the importance of using the lessons learned in the HIV epidemic to help develop more informed prevention and treatment programs geared toward NCDs. She underscored the need for building collaborative partnerships with communities in order to identify health strategies that can achieve success. She also stressed the importance of balancing prevention and treatment—noting that this had been a major lesson learned in the HIV community.
View this World Leaders Forum.
Kevin De Cock and Wafaa El-Sadr to Moderate Discussion on JAIDS Supplement
Join ICAP for a special event that will bring together global health leaders to discuss timely issues in the HIV/AIDS response. Kevin De Cock, director of the Center for Global Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP, will moderate a panel discussion that will focus on issues addressed in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) Supplement, titled “Bridging the Divide." Published in August 2011, the JAIDS Supplement provides a critical review of the divides in public health, such as the divide between interests in HIV services and other pressing health conditions, and sets the stage for the development of strategies to overcome these divides.
Panelists will include Miriam Rabkin, ICAP director for health systems strategies; Elaine Abrams, ICAP senior research director; Margaret Kruk, assistant professor of health policy and management at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; and Gregg Gonsalves of AIDS and Rights Alliance of Southern Africa (ARASA). This event will take place on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 from 3:00-5:00 p.m.in Hess Commons located in the Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W 168th Street, Main Floor, New York City.
Kwara State First Lady Visits ICAP Offices in Nigeria
In Nigeria, the First Lady of Kwara State, her Excellency Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed, recently visited ICAP offices in Nigeria where she met with several ICAP staff and practitioners. The First Lady acknowledged and commended ICAP for its commitment to the fight against HIV as well as its leading role in the provision of quality HIV/AIDS services.
