You’re invited to attend a panel discussion (either in-person or online) with a selection of authors featured in the supplement issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) released on December 9.

This ten-article supplement specifically addresses the role health communication plays in treatment outcomes and provides a compilation of experiences from low- and middle-income countries.It is an extension and follow up to the 2014 JAIDS Supplement, “Health Communication in HIV Prevention and Care.”

Researchers representing multiple sectors, countries and perspectives contributed their examples of how communication has improved HIV treatment outcomes in an effort to foster a multidisciplinary dialogue, advance global knowledge and provide guidance to the field.

The curation of both supplements was led by the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3).

Welcome and Opening Remarks:

• Dr. David Celentano, Director, Johns Hopkins CFAR Prevention Core, Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Lynn Van Lith, MPA, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs
• Kim Ahanda, MPH and Emily Harris, MA, USAID

Articles/Presenters:

A framework for health communication across the HIV treatment continuum

Stella Babalola, PhD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Stella Babalola is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, affiliated with the Department of Health, Behavior and Society and the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. She has more than 25 years experience in behavioral research and has worked extensively in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Over the past five years, her research has focused largely on maternal health and the risk factors for HIV in Africa. She has conducted research and published extensively on multiple reproductive health issues, including family planning, maternal health, sexual and gender-based violence, adolescent sexuality and HIV/AIDS.

Effective interpersonal health communication for linkage to care following HIV diagnosis in South Africa

Chris J. Hoffmann, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Christopher Hoffmann MD, MPH is an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine with a secondary appointment in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  His research is primarily based in Africa and focuses on reducing HIV-associated mortality through health service related improvements in care delivery and patient level engagement to improve HIV testing and retention along the HIV care continuum and to improve delivery of guideline-based care.

Feasibility and acceptability of health communication interventions within a combination intervention strategy for improving linkage and retention in HIV care in Mozambique

Roberta Sutton, MPH
Strategic Information Specialist, ICAP Columbia University

Ms. Roberta Sutton, MPH is a Strategic Information Specialist at ICAP at Columbia University supporting ICAP programs in Angola, Mozambique, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone. Ms. Sutton specializes in development and implementation of comprehensive monitoring and evaluation strategies for large HIV service delivery and health systems strengthening programs in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Her expertise also includes program evaluation and implementation science research to evaluate and improve the quality of programs. Ms. Sutton holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Project Shikamana: Baseline findings from a community empowerment based combination HIV prevention trial among female sex workers in Iringa, Tanzania

Deanna L. Kerrigan, PhD
Co-Director, CFAR Prevention Core, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Deanna Kerrigan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Behavior, and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the social and structural factors affecting the health and well-being of underserved populations.  Much of her work over the past two decades has focused on developing and evaluating effective HIV prevention and care interventions among marginalized groups in Latin America and the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa such as female sex workers including those living with HIV. Dr. Kerrigan is the Co-Director of the Prevention Core of the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). She previously directed the global HIV operations research project entitled, Project SEARCH: Research to Prevention (R2P) funded by the United States Agency for International Development. She also worked as a Program Officer for the Ford Foundation, coordinating the Sexuality and Reproductive Health and Rights portfolio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and subsequently coordinating their Global Sexuality Research Initiative.

The in-person event will be held at  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 615 N. Wolfe Street in room W1030.

Photo credit: Credit: Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation–Malawi / Robbie Flick. USAID Flickr.