Projects and Research

This university-wide,virtual Centre for Research in HIV and AIDS was founded on two large grants based at the School of Public Health They are as follows:

Human Capacity Development to Address HIV and AIDS in South Africa

A UWC-based CDC/PEPFAR funded project, Human Capacity Development to address HIV and AIDS in South Africa CDC-RFA-PS07-719) is documenting and learning from the experience of teams working to strengthen human capacity in different contexts.

Rather than “scaling up” one intervention, UWC sought to support a broad-spectrum approach reflecting the range of interventions, contexts, and approaches that must somehow be strengthened if the complex and uneven South African pandemic is to be stopped.

Teams from seven faculties and one NGO (TB/HIV Care) – and one from another university - are addressing issues ranging from viral resistance and databases for managing human resources for health, to integrating PMTCT into nurses’ training and to developing HIV-informed leadership in government.  There is also work with teachers and learners at schools, and parents in nearby neighbourhoods.

Although not a research grant, this project provides opportunities to learn about and theorize capacity development for concerted “social change management” across social sub-systems with differing interests, structures, and organizational cultures. While they cover only a small part of the landscape, they begin to engage the complexity and disconnections inherent in working in the uneven realities of HIV and AIDS in South Africa — where everything matters, and one size does not fit all.

Transforming Health and Education Policies and Systems for improved HIV Prevention and Care

- part of UWC's Dynamics of Building a Better Society Programme.

This is a long-term academic collaboration between UWC and Flemish universities to develop and strengthen capacity and engage in joint research collaboration and supervision of PhD students. The VLIR Programme is integrated into the wider UWC Dynamics of Building a Better Society: (DBBS) Programme. In the SOPH VLIR funds three PhD scholarships and assists with funding for additional activities that revolve around the programme of activities of the UWC Centre for HIV and AIDS Research.

The overall academic objective is to develop sustainable HIV-related research capacity in a multidisciplinary HIV Research Centre housed in the School of Public Health, Faculty of Community and Health Sciences. The overall development objective is to transform health and education policies and systems with the aim

1) to decrease the burden of HIV and TB,

2) to improve the impact of education on HIV/AIDS prevention and to develop proper responses for prevention of and response to gender-based violence. 

The specific academic objective is to build research capacity and strengthen partnerships in the areas of integrated HIV/AIDS prevention and care, with a specific focus on HIV/TB, education and gender based violence. The specific development objective is to make policy recommendations based on research in the areas of integrated HIV/AIDS prevention and care, with a specific focus on HIV/TB, education and gender based violence.

The UWC Centre for HIV and AIDS Research seeks to attract a multidisciplinary team of experts to conduct research that will inform policies and transform health and education systems with the aim 1) to improve HIV and TB prevention and care, 2) to improve the impact of education on HIV/AIDS prevention and 3) to develop proper responses for prevention of and response to gender-based violence.

Other Centre projects

In addition to these two founding grants, the Centre convenes and/or participates in a range of other projects with colleagues both within and beyond the University.

The aim of this WHO project is to increase access to early TB diagnosis and treatment in Sisonke, a poor rural district in South Africa from July 2011 to June 2012. The objectives are:

• to increase TB case finding and treatment through mobile HIV counseling and testing (HCT) linked with TB symptom screening;

• to diagnose TB with the Gene Xpert in health facilities;

• to intensify TB contact tracing and household TB screening at community level; and

• to evaluate through operational research the effectiveness of continuous quality improvement on facility-based and community-based TB case finding and the effectiveness of mobile cell phones for TB contact tracing and case finding by community care workers (CCWs).

HIV and AIDS Research in Complex Contexts of Inequality (HARICCI)

HIV and AIDS Research in Complex Contexts of Inequality - or the HARICCI Collaboration  - will develop and implement an interconnected body of research studies, symposia, fellowships, and participatory interventions that build on existing research programs and partnerships across the university, and address migration, inequality and substance abuse as both entrypoints and cross-cutting themes engaging HIV, health, education, and gender-focused issues and societal responses.

Mainstreaming a health systems approach to delivery of maternal health services: Transdisciplinary research in Rwanda and South Africa

Too many women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) still die as a direct result of pregnancy and childbirth. We know from experiences in high-income countries that the vast majority of these deaths are preventable. Most experts believe that strengthening various aspects of the health system (as conceptualized in the six WHO building blocks, which include the health workforce; health information systems; leadership and governance; and actual service delivery) is the solution. It is still unclear however, which building blocks are most important, which interventions within the building blocks are best value for money, and how interventions in different building blocks influence one another.

Another aspect that is critical for improving maternal health but is insufficiently emphasised in the building blocks is enabling patients to demand good access to high-quality services.   We postulate that the key steps needed to improve services in pregnancy include holding maternal health managers accountable for these services and encouraging community participation to increase patient demand. Moreover, much more is needed to shore-up the skills of public-sector managers and how they function in teams that work to improve these services. Finally, we hold that services would be improved through better use of information routinely collected by maternal health services, especially learning from instances of maternal death.

To test this hypothesis, after thoroughly reviewing the academic and grey literature, we will document illustrative cases of successes and failures in maternal health services in Rwanda and South Africa, to identify opportunities to improve the way these services are provided, and to enhance workers‟ motivation and leadership. We will study services for treatment of HIV disease in pregnant women and for providing care during emergencies in pregnancy or childbirth. Through working closely with policy leaders and civil society, throughout the project, we will take joint actions to improve maternal services. Practically, this means that teams of policy makers and researchers in Rwanda and South Africa will apply knowledge learnt in the project and attempt to markedly improve the way maternal services are organised. In both countries, the major reforms underway and the relative inclusiveness of policy processes, mean that presently there are major opportunities to positively influence policy directions and their implementation.