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SUNY Downstate to lead HIV research training program in Ukraine
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The New York State International Training and Research Program of SUNY Downstate Medical Center has received a $1.5 million, 5-year grant from the NIH to develop and implement a training program that will improve HIV care in Ukraine, according to a press release.
Ukraine, home to Europe’s most volatile HIV epidemic, has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in Europe, according to UNICEF. Although there are more than 300,000 injection drug users contributing to the growing number of HIV and HCV infections, access to ART and care for substance users remains low, the release said.
“A major part of our effort would be to train Ukrainian-based investigators with evidence-based interventions to enhance access to care as well as retention in care,” Jack A. DeHovitz, MD, MPH, MHCDS, Distinguished Service Professor in the department of medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and director of the program, told Infectious Disease News. “This is critical to reducing new infections, particularly in a setting of injection drug use and the rapid increase in HIV infection in men who have sex with men.”
In collaboration with the School of Public Health of National Ukraine Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the Ukrainian Institute on Public Health Policy, The New York State International Training and Research Program (NYS-ITRP) will train researchers to respond to the increasing HIV epidemic amid prolonged military conflict in Ukraine. NYS-ITRP, a research training program focused on building research capacity in the former Soviet Union, has previously helped the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland through similar HIV epidemic conditions. According to David Odegaard, MPH, director of training and education at the Special Treatment and Research (STAR) Program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, the NYS-ITRP faculty’s experience with research capacity building extends over the past 20 years — in Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Russia.
“Our primary role [in Central Europe] was to better define the epidemic as well as develop the clinical trials infrastructure to facilitate early introduction of ART,” DeHovitz said. “A major focus of our efforts in Ukraine will be to enhance the curriculum at the School of Public Health in Kyiv and utilize the HIV Research Scholars to both assess and improve the impact of HIV prevention and treatment programs.”
According to SUNY Downstate Medical Center, NYS-ITRP is the only HIV research training program in Eastern Europe and Central Asia supported by the Fogarty International Center, part of the NIH.
“This effort builds on a cohort of investigators who graduated from our partner School of Public Health in Kyiv and were able to embark on their research careers after completing advanced research training with us,” DeHovitz said. “We hope to continue this success and further build in-country training capacity, to reduce the time that study is required in the U.S.”
However, poor linkage between HIV testing and care, in addition to a complicated health care system, contributes to persisting structural and personnel barriers in the treatment of infected patients, according to DeHovitz.
“These barriers exist within a public health system currently undergoing a national transformation, in a positive way, to use evidence-based interventions and surveillance methods to improve all aspects for the HIV care continuum,” DeHovitz said. “Our training program has established linkages with the Ministry of Health, which is spearheading reform efforts in the public health system, including increased access to ART. Naturally, these reform efforts require a skilled workforce, to which we hope to contribute.” – by Savannah Demko
References:
UNICEF. HIV/AIDS, Children and Youth Program. https://www.unicef.org/ukraine/activities_11384.html. Accessed on June 14, 2017.
Disclosures: DeHovitz reports no relevant financial disclosures.