Program seeks Council approval to continue supporting an initiative titled “Prevention and Treatment through a Comprehensive Care Continuum for HIV-affected Adolescents in Resource Constrained Settings Implementation Science Network (PATC3H-IN)”. Despite effective antiretrovirals for treatment and prevention, there is a disproportionate burden of HIV among adolescents and young adults (AYA) in lower middle-income countries (LMICs).
While significant advances in HIV prevention and treatment interventions have been achieved, their reliance on excellent adherence and engagement in care limits their effectiveness in impacted vulnerable AYA resulting in disparities of achieving success across all milestones in the HIV prevention and care continuum (HPCC). In the last cycle of this initiative, we funded 8 highly successful research programs in sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil that have substantially expanded our understanding of how differentiated care approaches can help improve youth outcomes across the HPCC and in these specific settings. However, many gaps remain unfulfilled among AYA in LMICs across the world and promising interventions from these programs and other research require further translation, study, and scale up in new AYA and/or LMIC settings using rigorous implementation science (IS).
The goal of this initiative is to expand successes achieved by PATC3H and stimulate much needed scientific capacity for IS research in a neglected area of public health significance: prevention of new HIV infections among adolescents at risk and the identification of, and linkage and retention to care of youth living with HIV in LMICs. Specifically, expand to translate interventions and study among new AYA populations and settings where there is limited IS research activity, improve the knowledge base in this area and inform national and global guidelines on the clinical management of at-risk, uninfected, and young people with HIV in these regions. Such knowledge will help adapt and tailor prevention and treatment measures to meet the needs of and control the HIV epidemic in adolescents and young adults.
This proposed concept aligns with the NICHD Vision areas of Improving Adolescent Health and Transition to Adulthood and Cross-Cutting areas of disease prevention, infectious disease, and health disparities.
This proposed concept aligns with the MPIDB research priority on HIV: Preventing new HIV infections in adolescents and improving the health of HIV-infected adolescents
This initiative addresses the overarching HIV/AIDS priorities of a) Therapeutics b) Behavioral and Social Sciences c) Reducing Health Disparities in HIV incidence or Treatment Outcomes and d) Research Training to Conduct High Priority HIV/AIDS Research.
Program Contact
Bill Kapogiannis
Maternal & Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch (MPIDB)
Back to Concept Review by Council
BACK TO TOP