This project includes HIV screening of Cameroonian military and rubber plantation workers and other rural residents, strain typing of HIV found in the cohort, and connecting HIV-positive individuals with local treatment resources.

AIDS INTERNATIONAL TRAINING & RESEARCH PROGRAM (AITRP): Research into new prevention technologies, including vaccines, effective treatment regimens, and improved deployment of existing approaches, remains of central importance to eventual control of AIDS. However, the scientific and public health questions which require the most urgent answers are increasingly difficult to investigate in developed world settings. International collaborative HIV/AIDS research, and the training needed for developing country scientists to lead that research, remains an urgent global priority and a public health necessity. AITRP provides training in support of collaborative research between faculty and their developing country partners, to foster lasting research partnerships, and to assist developing country scientists in establishing their own, and their countries’, capacity in independent HIV/AIDS research.  My research team has participated in this program through the Johns Hopkins University, with plans for collaboration with UCLA.

HIV-1 now causes more global mortality than any other single infectious agent and is the primary cause of death in Africa.  Accurate HIV-1 diagnosis in the context of counseling and effective prevention programs, access to treatment, and effective preventive vaccines are the central tools for addressing the pandemic.  The effectiveness of some of these tools, however, may be limited by the genetic diversity of HIV-1.  Due to the diversity of HIV-1 in Cameroon, it was decided that vaccines should be evaluated in this region to determine their potential suitability for global application.   

The ultimate objective of this study was to prepare for human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) vaccine trials. In doing so, the research questions to be addressed by this proposal were: What is the incidence of HIV-1 in a volunteer cohort established to ultimately test vaccine strategies in Cameroon?  What is the prevalence of HIV-1 infection?  What is the distribution in HIV-1 genotypes in prevalent and incident HIV-1 infections and in different HLA backgrounds?  What are the follow-up rates in different population sectors as well as the potential barriers to enrollment in future vaccine trials?  What parameters are important for vaccine evaluation including baseline values and reference ranges for CD4 and viral load in HIV-1 infected volunteers?  What behavioral and other risk factors are associated with HIV-1 infection?             
                                                            
This study involved the administration of a questionnaire, a physical examination, counseling, and the collection of a blood sample from each volunteer.  Another component of the study will assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of the population with which we worked to identify problems that could be associated with the conduct of HIV prevention activities.  The KAP study included the administration of a knowledge, attitude, practice and behavior questionnaire and will last two months for questionnaire administration and analysis.  This will be a one-time administration at the beginning of the overall study, and will include about 2000 participants total. 

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