Our Ugandan colleagues at the Makerere College of Health Sciences have been busy over the past few months. Center members’ work has focused on various aspects of cervical cancer, from prevention to diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Miriam Nakalembe is still leading the NCI-funded effort to evaluate community-based strategies for cervical cancer detection, in partnership with Dr. Megan Huchko. Building on this work, she is a co-investigator on a recently funded two-year project through the Fogarty International Center. The grant seeks to develop a portable imaging technique, called a smartphone confocal endoscope. The new technology would visualize cellular details of human cervix in vivo without taking a biopsy, and after validation would be adapted to provide a low-cost diagnostic tool for other diseases in both resource poor and resource rich settings. Dr. Jane Namugga continues her work with Dr. Paula Lee. The pair have completed data collection for a project to determine rates of completion and adverse events associated with receiving chemotherapy...

Blog by Amber Fleck, MS2, University of Colorado: In the United States, health education is seemingly everywhere: ads online reminding women of the importance of pap smears, TV commercials advising against smoking, or posters in bar bathrooms providing safe sex advice. With this abundance of exposure to health education, it is a striking difference to visit a country where many communities don’t have regular access to this kind of information, especially if that information regards sexual or reproductive health. In an effort to bridge this gap and enhance community health education the Kenya Ministry of Health began using lay workers, also known as community health volunteers (CHVs). CHVs travel door-to-door in their assigned communities to educate individuals about disease management, including reproductive and maternal health, and provide referrals to the clinic when necessary. In theory, this is an excellent way to increase access to health information and care; however, these programs have had some significant challenges. One challenge is that these are...

As we close out the academic year and head into the hot North Carolina summer, the halls of Trent get a lot quieter. To some, this calm may suggest a mass exodus to the beach or some other vacation destination. However, for faculty, students and staff, the empty offices belie a frenzy of work, as many head off to field sites around the world. Summer break represents a time to re-focus on the work that inspires students, trainees and faculty to put in the hours teaching, writing and learning throughout the year. We use this time to launch new projects, reconnect with their research teams and develop or deepen our partnerships. As we previously described, we have a very busy summer planned with work and site visits in western Kenya, while back at home, continuing with the launch of the Collaboratory project and the Big Data for Reproductive Health Summer team. I spent the last two weeks in June in Nairobi,...