The Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH) has selected two innovative projects to receive the 2023 Hecht Global Health Faculty Network Award. This year’s awardees include a project focused on delivering mental health interventions in conflict-affected Ukrainian prisons and understanding how mental health and substance use disorders affect TB preventative therapy in South Africa.
The Hecht Global Health Faculty Network Award was created as a key component of the YIGH Faculty Support Initiative. The Award is focused on promoting new research and programs in global health undertaken by YIGH Faculty Networks, which are groups of Yale faculty who coalesce to form a long-term, collaborative academic and/or research partnership centered on a thematic or geographic area. YIGH currently hosts 13 Faculty Networks focused on a range of issues. The Awards are intended to lay the foundation for recipients’ successful pursuit of additional funding opportunities. Each project will receive up to $50,000.
REsponding to the needs of PEople deprived of liberty in ConflicT (RESPECT)
Danielle Poole, Associate Research Scientist, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health; Rick Altice, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases), Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health
Affiliated YIGH Faculty Network: Yale Emergency, Critical Care and Disaster Medicine Network
The mental health burden resulting from the Ukrainian conflict is substantial - an estimated one-third of the population requires psychological support due to war-related trauma and stress. People deprived of liberty (PDL) are especially vulnerable to psychological stress attributable to the pressures of incarceration, social isolation, and mental health comorbidities, compounded by the conflict. The COURAGE project brings together investigators across Yale and in Ukraine to understand the mental health trajectories of war-affected PDL in order to tailor screening and interventions for this population. "We expect this project to advance the delivery of mental health interventions in conflict-affected Ukrainian prisons, in addition to promoting inclusivity in the field of conflict epidemiology,” said Danielle Poole, Associate Research Scientist at the Yale School of Public Health.
Mind the Gap: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders among PLHIV on TB Preventive Therapy in South Africa
Luke Davis, Associate Professor, Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Pulmonary), Yale School of Medicine; Sheela Shenoi, Associate Professor, Medicine – Infectious Diseases, Yale School of Medicine; Salome Charalambous, Associate Professor Adjunct, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
Affiliated YIGH Faculty Network: Yale Global AIDS Research Faculty Network (GARNER)
Tuberculosis remains the leading killer of persons with HIV worldwide, as many start but do not finish TB preventive therapy. Salome Charalambous, Chief Scientific Officer at the Aurum Institute in Johannesburg and Associate Professor of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases noted, “For persons with HIV, it can be difficult to take the large number of drugs that are needed to both combat the HIV virus and protect against TB. When other problems such as mental health and substance use are also at play, it can be impossible. Finding ways to improve adherence by understanding the interplay between all these elements will be important to eventually reduce the impact of these diseases in our communities.” “With a YIGH Hecht Award, we will screen and treat adults with HIV in South Africa for mental health and substance use disorders and monitor how these conditions affect TB preventive therapy adherence using two emerging technologies, low-cost electronic pillboxes and point-of-care urine tests,” said Dr. Luke Davis, Associate Professor at the Yale School of Public Health and co-lead of the Yale GARNER Faculty Network. The award will also support research training for a Yale MD-PhD student, Ann Johnson, and a soon-to-be-recruited South African MPH student.