News
Otimati Clinic opens for youth
The BRIGHT Otimati Youth Research Clinic in Ilembe had the honour of welcoming dignitaries from the National Department of Health (DoH) Head office in Tshwane. The dignitaries were led by the Director for Communicable Disease Control Ms Tsakani Furumele and the Head of Helminth Control Mrs Takalani Nemungadi. Also present were six of their team members and a representative from the Ilembe DoH, Mrs Nontobeko Ndadane. This comes as the BRIGHT research team embarks on the world’s first a randomized control trial on important research questions. Young women in Ilembe and King Cetshwayo Districts will again be invited for world class investigations. The dignitaries were given a tour of the research clinic and staff members presented the study recruitment activities, from driving to get the high school learners to how they go about with the procedures. The delegation was in KZN for a three day meeting dedicated to several aspects of Helminthic diseases, Bilharzia has been found to be very common in King Cetshwayo and Ilembe... read more
Working Together for an AIDS-free Future for Girls and Women
Ten countries – Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – account for nearly half of all the new HIV infections that occurred among adolescent girls and young women globally in 2014. Girls and young women account for 71 percent of new HIV infections among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. This must change. The DREAMS initiative aims to help girls develop into Determined Resilient Empowered AIDS-free Mentored and Safe women. Many adolescent girls and young women lack a full range of opportunities and are too often devalued leading them to be seen as unworthy of investment or protection. Social isolation, economic disadvantage, discriminatory cultural norms, orphanhood, gender-based violence, and school drop-out all contribute to girls’ vulnerability to HIV. We wish to ensure an AIDS-free future for adolescent girls and young women. DREAMS will build upon existing evidence-based approaches and infuse additional resources and innovative approaches to better meet the needs of adolescent girls and young women. Read more... read more
Research Working Group – GSA want to eliminate
The Research Working Group of the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA) convened for two days to agree how to apply operational research to enhance efforts to eliminate schistosomiasis. On 14 June 2016, leading experts in the control and elimination of schistosomiasis from around the world gathered in Shanghai to advance the World Health Organization’s goal of worldwide elimination of the disease. However, 50 years after elimination, we will still have gynaecological disease and HIV susceptibility. The two-day meeting brought together health specialists to discuss such topics as new drugs, mapping the transmission of the disease and alternative control... read moreA review of female genital schistosomiasis
Kjetland EF, Leutscher PD, Ndhlovu PD
HIV target cells in Schistosoma haematobium-infected female genital mucosa
Jourdan PM, Holmen SD, Gundersen SG, Roald B, Kjetland EF
Increased vascularity in cervicovaginal mucosa with Schistosoma haematobium infection
Jourdan PM, Roald B, Poggensee G, Gundersen SG, Kjetland EF