The National Institutes of Health announced the cancellation of more than 100 grants to fund HIV research, nearing $450 million, according to The Guardian. HIV research has saved lives around the world, and University of Washington School of Public Health researchers have been part of this work. Here's just a snapshot of the impact their research has made on curbing the HIV epidemic and getting treatment to those who most need it.
Fighting an epidemic with research questions
Since the HIV epidemic began in the 1980s, researchers and community partners have discovered which drugs can prevent HIV, determined their safety for different populations, and are working to understand how to best deliver them to the people who need them the most.
Learn more: How a series of questions helped Kenneth Mugwanya fight the HIV epidemic
Preventing HIV during breastfeeding
UW Epidemiology research found that the dapivirine vaginal ring is safe to use as HIV prevention during breastfeeding. This is important because the risk of acquiring HIV during breastfeeding is estimated to be up to four times higher compared to other periods in life.
Learn more: Study suggests dapivirine vaginal ring is safe to use as HIV prevention during breastfeeding
HIV care and veterans
Health Systems and Population Health researchers have been studying the intersection of substance use and HIV in the U.S., and lead the Alcohol, Behavior Intervention & Health Services Research core of the Veterans Aging Cohort Study, which includes more than 40,000 HIV-positive veteran participants. They’ve studied how medical and psychiatric disease can determine HIV outcomes, such as how stopping or decreasing alcohol consumption improves response to antiretroviral medications and HIV viral load.
Learn more: Research continues at the intersection of substance use and HIV
Circumcision for HIV prevention
Voluntary medical male circumcision decreases the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission by about 60%. Global Health partners including the Zimbabwe Technical Assistance, Training, and Education Center for Health, have been using mobile caravans and performing arts to bring circumcision education and access to rural areas.
Learn more: Zim-TTECH’s Innovative Programs Increase Male Circumcision Uptake for HIV Prevention
Making HIV prevention easier for communities
Treating and preventing HIV only works if these solutions meet the needs of communities. In partnership with young women in Eastern and Southern African, epidemiology researchers have been studying how to help make pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the drugs that prevents HIV infection, more accessible to patients. They found that adding injectable PrEP to the HIV prevention toolkit could potentially increase PrEP use and overall coverage of HIV prevention.
Understanding how HIV and pollution intersect
Children with HIV who are exposed to pollution have higher levels of cognitive impairment compared to their peers. UW’s environmental and occupational health researchers have been working to understand how the confluence of pollution and HIV can impact maternal and child health.
Learn more: A global partnership for child health
HIV research has been used to save lives from COVID-19
While there is no vaccine for HIV, the decades of research conducted trying to develop an HIV vaccine proved very helpful for rapidly developing a COVID-19 vaccine. A field of biostatistics called “sieve analysis,” allows researchers to compare acquired viral strains between vaccinated and unvaccinated people and estimates the odds that a viral strain could penetrate the vaccine protection barrier.
Learn more: Peter Gilbert shares how decades of HIV research and community activism shaped COVID vaccine development
Development of Novel HIV Combination Therapies
UW SPH researchers, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and the University of Cologne, identified that carefully designed combinations of broadly neutralizing antibodies could prevent HIV viral escape and rebound. This approach offers a promising alternative to traditional antiretroviral therapy, potentially leading to more effective treatments.