News
10 Commitments to end AIDS
“The data is compelling, Female Genital Schistosomiasis should be there among the “10 Commitments”. It makes total sense to me that there is a link between FGS and HIV transmission.” Professor Terry Mc Govern, Columbia University Medical Center. Professor Terry McGovern founded the HIV Law Project in 1989 where she served as its director until 1999. In 1999, she was awarded an Open Society Institute Fellowship. From 2001 she was the Director of the Women’s Health and Human Rights Advocacy Project. Currently, she teaches Health and Human Rights and Environmental Justice. Professor McGovern successfully litigated numerous cases in UNited Stated including making the Social Security Administration expand HIV-related disability criteria so that women and low income individuals could qualify for Medicaid and social security, and a guideline restricting the participation of women of childbearing potential in early phases of clinical trials. From 2001, she has worked to improve the reproductive and healthcare of low- income women, and work on issues related to fundamentalisms and the impact on women’s human... read more
New BRIGHT Research Station in Ugu South Africa
After a generous donation of buildings by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria we opened the new BRIGHT Rural Research Centre in the presence of dignitaries from the Ugu Department of Health, and University of KwaZulu-Natal – Public Health / Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ugu Hospitals, Oslo University Hospital (Norway) and University of Agder (Norway). The BRIGHT Rural Research Centre will provide training for PhD and Masters Students who will contribute to the work rural health problems. BRIGHT will facilitate interaction between researchers and implementers (policy makers and local departments) to allow for research that can contribute to better health . BRIGHT members have been largely from the medical profession but BRIGHT will widen its scope to encompass laboratory, education and social anthropological research. The new facilities will ensure a sustainable site for specimen storage and scientific excellence and will be the beginning of a permanent presence in the rural community. Back row from the left: Dr Busisiwe Dlamini (CEO and Medical Manager Port Shepstone Hospital), Professor and medical doctor Svein Gunnar Gundersen (University of Agder, Norway), Mr Carmelo Pistilli (Logistician, BRIGHT), Mr Rob Ferreira (CEO Margate Hospital), Mr Roy Farai Manyaira (Data manager/IT, BRIGHT) 7th row: Associate Professor and Psychologist Thirusha Naidu (University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)), Dr Frank Olav Pettersen (CEO Norwegian Centre for Imported and Tropical Diseases), 6th row: Dr O Dabibi (CEO Murchison Hospital), Dr Saloshni Naidoo (Head of Department, Disci pline of Public Health, UKZN), Ms Thulisile Mkhize (Field assistant and transport, BRIGHT), Ms Sarah McKaw (CEO Margate Hospital), Ms Andile Mtshali (PhD student), Mr Edmore Mazani (Masters Student) 5th row: Dr Nonhlanhla Mbatha (Senior Lecturer Durban University... read more
Female Genital Schistosomiasis at an HIV conference
Adolescent young women are still becoming HIV positive at an alarming rate and the HIV community has classified them as a so-called “key population”. It is crucial that the HIV community also tackles Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) and it was therefore a pleasure to see the World Health Organisation (WHO) at an HIV conference talking about FGS. Dr. Catherine Sozi, UNAIDS and Dr. Meg Doherty, the WHO Coordinator for HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care in Geneva, spoke at length about FGS as a risk factor for HIV. The ICASA 2017 presentation in Abidjan may bear tidings of a new era for young adolescents living in rural... read moreThe colposcopic atlas of schistosomiasis in the lower female genital tract based on studies in Malawi,Zimbabwe, Madagascar and South Africa
Norseth HM, Ndhlovu PD, Kleppa E, Randrianasolo BS, Jourdan PM, Roald B, Holmen SD, Gundersen SG, Bagratee J, Onsrud M, Kjetland EF
Cervical ectopy: associations with sexually transmitted infections and HIV. A cross-sectional study of high school students in rural South Africa
Kleppa E, Holmen SD, Lillebø K, Kjetland EF, Gundersen SG, Taylor M, Moodley P, Onsrud M
Classification of the lesions observed in female genital schistosomiasis
Kjetland EF, Norseth HM, Taylor M, Lillebø K, Kleppa E, Holmen SD, Andebirhan A, Yohannes TH, Gundersen SG, Vennervald BJ, Bagratee J, Onsrud M, Leutscher PD