HIV Projects
The Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP)
The Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP) is an independent, Ugandan-led organization in south central Uganda with a vision to excel in health research and disease prevention and care.
RHSP’s mission is to conduct innovative and relevant health research in infectious diseases, communicable and non-communicable diseases and reproductive health and to provide health related services in order to improve public health and inform policy.
RHSP was founded in 1987 to investigate the then-mysterious “slim disease” in Rakai district. Key early figures included Nelson Sewankambo, MBChB, MMed, David Serwadda, MBChB, MSc, MMed, MPH, Maria Wawer, MD, MSc, Ronald Gray, MD, MSc, Tom Lutalo, MSc, and Fred Wabwire-Mangen, MBChB, MPH, PhD who grew a from working in a local tin-roofed shop in Kalisizo to modern facilities conducting larger community-based epidemiology, prevention, and care trials and studies.
Learn more about RHSP’s current activities at www.rhsp.org.
The Johns Hopkins-Rakai Health Sciences Program-Makerere University Fogarty Training Program
Building upon a 30 year legacy of capacity building, this program aims, in a multidisciplinary fashion, to better understand and reduce HIV incidence in Uganda and beyond.
This program focuses on developing scientific capacity in Uganda in 3 synergistic areas: (1) Implementation Science, (2) Geospatial Analysis/Infectious Disease Dynamics and (3) Virology/Immunology/HIV Cure. These disciplines span the clinic, community, modeling, and the lab sciences to better ensure that Ugandan institutions will have the research capacity needed to understand, respond to, and eventually control the HIV epidemic.
Trainees take part in various multidisciplinary bachelor, master’s, PhD, and post-graduate level training in Uganda at Makerere University, in the field at the Rakai Health Sciences Program, and in the U.S. at Johns Hopkins University.
The anticipated outcome is to have developed a world-class cadre of Ugandan research capacity capable of leading Uganda to the end of its HIV epidemic.
This program is co-led by Drs. Fred Nalugoda, Godfrey Kigozi, and Larry Chang.
In partnership with the Latino advocates, and the Baltimore City and Maryland Departments of Health, our team has provided HIV testing and navigation to services for over 15 years. Together with community members and patients, our team has developed social marketing materials that aim to provide information, destigmatize HIV, and facilitate access to services.
For more information visit http://solovive.org
Latinx HIV
We are evaluating whether a health department-driven mHealth-enhanced Linkage to Care and Retention (mLTCR) intervention can improve HIV outcomes among HIV-infected African Americans and Latinos compared to standard Baltimore City Health Department linkage to care protocols.
Leveraging mHealth and peers to Engage African-Americans and Latinos in HIV care (LEAN)
Our team partnered with Human Rights Watch to document the impact of the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis on public health. Together with the Johns Hopkins Center of Humanitarian Health and the Center for Public Health and Human Rights, we have partnered with the local organization Red Somos to conduct the Bienvenir study and estimate the HIV prevalence and continuum of care among Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia (PI Andrea Wirtz, PhD).
To access the reports:
Biobehavioral Survey of HIV, Syphilis, and Health Status Among Venezuelans Living in Colombia
Venezuela’s Humanitarian Emergency
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/04/venezuela-un-should-lead-full-scale-emergency-response
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/26/venezuela-urgent-aid-needed-combat-covid-19
Venezuelan humanitarian crisis
Learn about our other projects