WE-ACT: Women's Equity In Access To Care and Treatment
Rwandan Women's Cohort Study
WE-ACT is based in San Franciso, California. The 'Rwandan Women's Cohort Study' is part of WE-ACT's Global AIDS Initiative.
Background
On a medical and scientific level, there are critical issues at stake in the global roll out of HIV/AIDS treatment for women and girls. Studies in the United States show that HIV antiretroviral therapy may affect the female body differently than male. Drug toxicities linked to some regimens appear more severe, particularly in women with longer treatment histories and women of color.
Given that millions of treatment-naive women in Africa and elsewhere are beginning to access HIV therapy, it's imperative to study and closely monitor the impact of therapy and the use of novel regimens in these populations. It is also critical to do so now, at the beginning of the global roll out, in order to gather information that will determine the benefit versus risk of a given regimen in target populations of women and girls and their ability to adhere to lifelong therapy.
WE-ACT will promote gender-based clinical trials and research programs to monitor HIV therapy women and girls in limited-resource settings.
The Project
With the help of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, WE-ACT will sponsor a pilot longitudinal Rwandan Women's HIV Cohort Study (RWHS) -- a project developed with researchers from the longstanding US Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). It will be integrated within the national treatment plan that the Rwandan government is implementing with multi-sector private partners including the Clinton and Pangaea foundations.
The project is designed to prioritize access to treatment and care for 3500 Rwandan women exposed to HIV via rape during the 1994 genocide and civil war there, and to monitor the impact of therapy. Many of these women are ill and require immediate access to treatment. The design of the study could provide a simplified model for critically needed gender-based HIV studies in resource-limited settings.
The RWHS is being developed in close collaboration with HIV-positive women's groups in Rwanda, the Rwandan government and First Lady's office, and Pangaea Foundation, Columbia University and other academic research groups.
SLF Ref#: WEACT.04.05