Kenneth Mugwanya, an assistant professor of global health at the University of Washington School of Public Health, and his research team have received a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test the effectiveness of integrating methods of HIV prevention into sexual and reproductive health services for women in Kenya.
The UW researchers will partner with Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya to scale up the delivery of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in family planning clinics in Kisumu, a region where HIV prevalence among young women can reach as high as 28%.
“Ensuring that young women seeking access to effective contraceptive methods in Kenya specifically, and Africa in general, are also able to protect themselves from HIV is critical for women empowerment and ending the HIV epidemic,” said Mugwanya, a physician-epidemiologist by training.