2 Nigerians are part of the beneficiaries of a research grant. The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Wednesday announced that it has awarded $7.5 million for an international research program to prevent and treat HIV infection among adolescents and young adults in seven African countries and Brazil.
Among the recipients of the grant are two Nigerians who have received grants to carry out HIV prevention and treatment programs across at least 4 states in Nigeria.
The study, called Prevention and Treatment through a Comprehensive Care Continuum for HIV-affected Adolescents in Resource Constrained Settings (PATC3H), will support research to develop strategies to identify youth at risk of HIV infection and those living with HIV and to enroll them into medical care programs, NIH said.
Babafemi Taiwo, MBBS, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, one of the beneficiaries, is into enrolling young men who have sex with men in Ibadan, Nigeria, into a program to diagnose HIV and provide treatment for those who need it.
Juliet Iwelunmor, Ph.D., Saint Louis University is into increasing HIV testing among male and female at-risk youth in 24 areas in 4 states in Nigeria and enrolling those who test positive into care.