Researchers to study impact of scaled-up HIV services in Zimbabwe

1 May 2008

New HIV health services are being rolled out in Zimbabwe, and Trust-funded researchers will be assessing their effectiveness.

The Wellcome Trust has awarded over £2.6 million to Dr Simon Gregson from Imperial College School of Medicine to help measure the effectiveness of a major HIV prevention and treatment initiative in Zimbabwe. The initiative is part of a new plan for HIV/AIDS control recently established by the Government of Zimbabwe.

In 2006, Dr Gregson and colleagues found that HIV prevalence appeared to be in decline in Zimbabwe, largely driven by the adoption of safer behaviours such as condom use. However, it has not been clear whether successful smaller-scale initiatives to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS will still work when scaled up across entire countries.

To study the effects of the initiatives - which include strategies to change people’s behaviour and the roll-out of antiretroviral therapy across the country - the team will measure new HIV infections and deaths (from AIDS and other causes) in a sample of 12 000 people who they had worked with before the new services were available. Mathematical models will allow the team to assess the contribution of individual interventions. They will also explore how much people make use of the newly available services and will find ways to potentially increase the uptake of these lifesaving resources.