UNC Expands Research in Vietnam
September 21, 2017
Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases
Four faculty members from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases visited the UNC Project-Vietnam in Hanoi this September. The purpose of the visit was threefold: to celebrate the successful completion of the HPTN 074 study, to prepare for the launch the HPTN 083 study and to consider areas for further mutual collaboration.
“It’s easy to have big ideas, it’s hard to actually get the work done locally,” noted Mike Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases. But, he continued, Vietnam has been at the forefront of completing important HIV research studies.
The HPTN 074 study is a vanguard study examining whether a comprehensive intervention composed of navigation and counseling is effective in reducing HIV transmission to injection partners. The study is chaired by Irving Hoffman and William Miller. Hoffman congratulated the Vietnam team on its progress in this trial. Trial data are now being analyzed and results will be announced soon.
The HPTN 083 study, or Give PrEP a Shot, is an ongoing randomized controlled trial examining long-acting injectable cabotegravir to prevent HIV at 44 sites in seven countries, including Vietnam. The Vietnamese HPTN clinical research site is led by Dr. Tran Viet Ha. This study will bring together researchers from Hanoi Medical University and the 19-8 Hospital.
During the visit visit to Hanoi, Ha and her team welcomed Cohen and Hoffman as well as UNC faculty Joe Eron and Joseph Tucker. Tucker is the director of UNC Project-China.
This exciting trip highlighted further opportunities for collaborative UNC research in Vietnam. Cohen and Eron, respectively, discussed how the Vietnam site could potentially be involved in future global HIV prevention or therapeutic research. Tucker discussed crowdsourcing contests as participatory activities for community engagement among men who have sex with men.
Learn more at the UNC Project-Vietnam website.