In the UAB Department of Internal Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases, faculty work with partners across the Peruvian Amazon to study the impact of human population movement (HPM) on the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria. Faculty developed an open-source low-cost 3D printable GPS-tracker and used this technology in a cohort study to characterize the role of HMP in malaria epidemiology. The study provides evidence of the causal effect of HPM on malaria that may help to adapt current malaria control programmes in the Amazon. This study was led by German Henostroza, M.D., professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases.
Faculty conducted a study in Paraná, Brazil in partnership with the Universidade Estadual de Londrina and Paraná Department of Public Health to evaluate the efficacy of a Community-Health Worker-led, theory-based, culturally, and gender-relevant tobacco cessation intervention that augments the tobacco cessation program offered through the public health system (R01TW009272). While the intervention was proven to the efficacious, it involved many home visits from Community Health Workers. Thus, researchers have adapted this intervention to be delivered through an integrated app with support from Community Health Workers, and they currently examining its effectiveness through an NCI-funded R21/R33 mechanism. There was also a recently completed study funded by NIDA to examine the feasibility of a tobacco cessation program for persons living with HIV in Brazil. These studies have been by Isabel Scarinci, Ph.D., M.P.H., professor in the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in collaboration with other UAB faculty members (Young-il Kim, professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine, and Karen Cropsey, Psy.D., professor in the Department of Psychiatry).
Katia Bruxvoort, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAB School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology, collaborated on a study describing the sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics associated with same-day oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) initiation among sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth in Brazil. She also leads a project (R01MH135769) to determine whether PrEP delivery by peer lay workers can increase PrEP uptake, adherence, and persistence among SGM youth in Salvador and São Paulo, Brazil. Sarah MacCarthy, Sc.D., Magic City LGBTQ Health Studies Endowed chair, serves as a Co-Investigator on this study and others focused on HIV among transgender and other multiply marginalized communities in Salvador and other major cities across Brazil.