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International Conference Presentations by CARTA fellows
Proud moment in Italy as I spoke about my research on the impact of ARVs on bone-density
By Flavia Matovu Kiweewa Cohort Four fellow from Makerere University, Uganda.
I participated in the 19th International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Co-Morbidities in HIV, October 23 – 25, 2017 in Milan, Italy. My presentation on October 24 was chaired by one of my mentors, Professor Todd Brown, an endocrinologist and bone health expert from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. It was titled,“ Baseline Bone Mineral Density in a Cohort of Young Women using Depo-provera and Tenofovir”. I discussed the baseline findings from my PhD work on bone mineral density in untreated HIV infected young women and the independent effects of depo-provera on bone mineral density.
In summary, we observed low bone mass especially at the hip among HIV-infected women compared to uninfected women. The background to this work is the high burden of HIV in Uganda and other sub-Saharan African countries that has necessitated wide spread use of anti-retroviral treatment. However, these medications are not without complications, metabolic bone complications are a great concern.
The most commonly used anti-retroviral agent – tenofovir – has been shown to lead to accelerated bone loss especially in the first two years of use. Of note, all HIV-infected individuals in resource-limited settings are offered tenofovir based anti-retroviral therapy unless contraindicated. Of the 19 million HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy, more than 70 % are on tenofovir based anti-retroviral therapy.
In addition, the choice of contraception by women affects their bone health. Depo-provera, a reliable and a widely available contraceptive, is the most preferred option among women of all age groups, with over 15 million users in sub-Saharan Africa. However, depo-provera, similar to tenofovir is also associate with reduced bone mass. Since tenovir and depo-provera are independently associated with reduced bone mass, there is a possibility that concurrent use of these two agents may potentiate each other’ s effects leading to early osteoporosis( a severe form of bone loss), and increased risk of fractures.
These workshops are central avenues in distilling and disseminate cutting-edge scientific data in the areas of drugs complications especially around HIV co-morbidities and areas of further research.
Flavia Kiweewa during her presentation titled“ Baseline Bone Mineral Density in a Cohort of Young Women using Depo-provera and Tenofovir’’ during the 19th International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Co-Morbidities in HIV in Milan, Italy from October 23 – 25 2017.
Grandparents have a role to play on the family structure and schooling of adolescents
By Macellina Yinyinade Ijadunola Cohort Six fellow from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.
I attended and made an oral presentation at the 28th International Union for the Scientific Study of Population held in Cape Town, South Africa from October 28 – November 4, 2017. The conference takes place every four years and gathers more than 2,000 scientists, policymakers and practitioners in the global population community to take stock of recent research on population trends.
My work focuses on the influence of grandparents on family structure and schooling of adolescents in Ile-Ife, a town in South- West Nigeria. My research shows that grandparents are increasingly filling parenting gaps in Nigeria. The cross-sectional study involves 408 secondary school adolescents( 10-19 years) using facilitated, selfadministered questionnaires to gather information about students’ socio-demographics, type of family structure, and schools’ academic performance.
Apart from their roles as family historians, grandparents have increasingly begun to fill the“ parenting gaps” left by their children, a trend attributable to the growing number of households with skipped generations caused by the absence of biological parents. Financial constraints rather than family bonding( which is defined by cultural beliefs in this part of the world) is the commonest social factor responsible for the re-emergence of this family structure.
Other social factors responsible for this rapidly increasing family structure include: mortality, morbidity, economic / study migration or incarceration of biological parents. This financial constraint in nuclear families kindles the natural impulse of financially empowered grandparents to fill the parental support gap.
Bola in Berlin: Culture has a role to play in sexism in Nigeria
By Boladale Mapayi Cohort Four fellow from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.
Through generous sponsorship from CARTA, I joined over 10,000 specialists and allied professionals in Berlin to participate in the World Psychiatry Association XVII World Congress of Psychiatry from October 8 – 12, 2017.
The conference was filled with new interactions and experiences for me and our team of eight. I met notable professionals in my field, which allowed me to appreciate the usefulness of their work to my own research. My two oral presentations went well and I got positive feedback. A lot of people had questions about how culture shaped the experiences of the Chibok girls. More than 270 girls were kidnapped from their school in the north-east Nigerian town of Chibok in 2014 by militant Islamist group Boko Haram. We also took a number of questions about the role that culture plays in sexism in Nigeria.
The CARTA experience helped me manage my first time ever chairing a symposium session; I was so grateful for the blitz session that we practiced in JAS 3! The conference also exposed me to a number of innovative strategies for my work back home. I have always been interested in psychological remedies and I sat in on a session focused on integrating psychotherapy in low-resourced settings. I hope to put some of those strategies to use. Another interesting session discussed ways to improve mental health in the workplace, based on research that a team had operationalized and used in diverse work settings.
It was inspiring to see the work of others and learn how their research had changed the communities around them. Thank you, CARTA, for making my participation possible; it was a great learning experience
for me.