Mapping Pathways Examines Whether ARVs Can Be Used to Prevent HIV/AIDS
Background
Many complex issues surround the use of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to prevent HIV—either to suppress the virus in HIV-positive people and reduce their infectiousness, or to prevent HIV-negative individuals from acquiring the virus following HIV exposure. On May 10, 2012, a panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that one such ARV be approved for use in preventing HIV/AIDS. Engaging and informing policymakers and community stakeholders about treatment and prevention options for HIV/AIDS is clearly necessary and beneficial.
Goals
To that end, RAND Europe is a partner in Mapping Pathways, a multinational project led by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago to develop and nurture a research-driven, community-led global understanding of the emerging evidence base around the adoption of ARV-based prevention strategies to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The project incorporates a thorough review of the social, economic and clinical impact of current and potential treatment regimes. Research, community engagement and policy work take place in three countries, the United States, India and South Africa.
RAND Europe's other project partners in Mapping Pathways are AIDS United, the Desmond Tutu HIV/AIDS Foundation, the Naz Foundation and Baird's CMC.
The diverse methodologies underlying the research bring together the wisdom of researchers, of communities and of policymakers from the very beginning in order to frame the research questions. The project continues with that engagement all the way through the study: from interpretation of research findings and the nature of the evidence base to engagement with local communities and the identification of policy options that are socially and culturally context specific.
The project began its second phase in 2012 with funding from Merck and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The first phase, which ran through 2011, was fully funded by a grant from Merck & Co.
Related Activities and News
Molly Morgan Jones, research leader for the Mapping Pathways project, visited Addis Ababa to present findings at the biennial International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) 2011. The conference was attended by more than 10,000 delegates from around the world, and many expressed an interest in having their countries serve as additional Mapping Pathways case-study sites. The project provided one of the few presentations on antiretroviral-based prevention.
RAND Europe is a partner in Mapping Pathways, a project to explore the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV/AIDS. Molly Morgan Jones is leading the project's literature review, which analyses all the research that has been published on the topic. In an interview on the Mapping Pathways website, Morgan Jones described her team's findings to date and how their observations will help to inform research ideas for Phase 2 of the project.
Research Team
Molly Morgan-Jones
Joanna Chataway
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