Emily Hurley, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Research Assistant Professor of Population Health, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Full Biography
The project “Enhancing communication on relationship preservation, safer conception and PrEP to promote HIV testing,” received a 3-year $632,187 Formative and Pilot Intervention Research for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS (R34 Clinical Trial Optional) award from the National Institute of Mental Health, part of the National Institutes of Health.
HIV transmission through married or cohabitating couples in sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 30 percent of new infections, yet the majority of people in stable heterosexual partnerships are unaware of their partner’s status. Evidence shows that couples who are not yet aware of their status may fear testing due to common misconception that an HIV+ or serodiscordant (where one person is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative) result will mean an end to their relationship, or a commitment to condom use that forgoes the possibility of having future children.
“Childbearing is highly valued in sub-Saharan Africa with the majority of childbearing-aged adults wanting children. While attitudes among HIV providers have shifted to become more supportive of conception, reassurance that conception can be achieved with limited risk of horizontal or vertical transmission has not yet been integrated in existing interventions that promote HIV testing,” explains Emily Hurley, PhD, MPH, who leads the study.
The expanding availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) presents an opportunity to counter these fears with strategic communication that reassure couples of their ability to have a healthy family even if one or both members are HIV positive.
The study team recently successfully piloted this communication strategy within Uganda’s assisted partner notification program (APN). This NIH R34 award will conduct formative research to expand the communication strategy into a multi-component intervention (“PrEPing Healthy Families”) and conduct a pilot trial of the intervention in both APN and antenatal care settings.
The team’s long-term objective is to leverage the growing availability of PrEP to determine if and how a communication strategy focused on relationship preservation and safer conception can increase testing and entry into treatment (antiretroviral therapy) or prevention (PrEP) among partnered individuals in Uganda.
Kathy Goggin, PhD, Vincent Staggs, PhD, Health Services and Outcomes Research, as well as Joseph Matovu, PhD, Jolly Beyeza-Kashesya, MB ChB, PhD, Rhoda Wanyenze, MB ChB, PhD, and Violet Gwokyalya, MPH, all of Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda will serve as co-investigators on the project.
The contents are those of the investigator and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by NIH, or the U.S. Government.