Diarrheal diseases remain one of the leading causes of death and disability in both children and adults worldwide. While the vast majority of diarrheal episodes follow a relatively benign course, approximately 35% of cases in younger children and 5% of cases in older children and adults lead to moderate or severe disease requiring advanced medical management. Appropriate rehydration with either oral or intravenous fluids remains the most important step for treating acute diarrhea. Accurate assessment of dehydration status has been shown to reduce the morbidity and mortality that results from inappropriate rehydration of patients and can also improve the cost-effectiveness of diarrhea management, especially in low resource settings. Yet no validated tools exist for estimating dehydration severity in patients with acute diarrhea across the lifespan.

Project Summary Sepsis, defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection, encompasses a continuum that ranges from sepsis to severe sepsis, septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and eventually death if untreated. Sepsis is the leading cause of child mortality worldwide, with most of these deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) yet few clinical tools have been developed for identifying, monitoring, or managing septic children in LMICs. There is immense potential for novel clinical tools that can help clinicians more rapidly identify children with advanced stages of sepsis (severe sepsis, septic shock and MODS), who are at highest risk for decompensation and death.

NAMBARI, the Moi-Brown Partnership for HIV Biostatistics Training, is a research training program to build biostatistics capacity for HIV research at Moi University. It focuses on training for students, faculty and technical staff in Kenya. This program is supported by the Fogarty International Center at the US National Institutes of Health (D43TW010050). 

The Brown University Ukraine Collaboration is a joint venture between the Brown University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and health service providers in Ukraine through the support of the Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation. The collaboration engages the resources of Brown University to work with Ukrainian health providers to address the challenges of the HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics for children, women and their family members in Ukraine.

Drs. Susan Cu-Uvin MD, Professor, Ob-Gyn and Medicine, Professor, Health Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University and Elkanah Omenge Orang'o, MBChB, MMED Senior Lecturer, Department of Reproductive Health, Moi University School of Medicine, Eldoret, Kenya lead the Brown/Moi Training Program for the Prevention of HIV-related Cervical Cancer (5D43TW011317) funded by the NIH-Fogarty International Center beginning in 2018.  

The Emerging Infectious Disease Scholars (EIDS) program of Brown University recognizes the specialized research and educational needs that are essential to nurture future healthcare providers so they are well equipped to prevent and manage epidemics. The EIDS program is designed to inspire, train, support, and retain students as a community of scholars to become leaders in research and treatment of emerging infectious diseases.

This research project aims to develop an educational campaign on HPV infection and cervical cancer prevention, and expand the training of health care providers on cervical cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment in accordance with the National Strategy for Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control program. This project is funded through generous support from the UNFPA/DFIC.