Nava Yeganeh, MD, MPH
K Bridge Awardee
About
Visiting Assistant Professor
Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, UCLA
Project title: Including Men to Prevent Prenatal Infections in Infants: the TRIPAI Initiative
Mentors:
Karin Nielsen, MD, MPH – UCLA
David Elashoff, PhD – UCLA
Pamina Gorbach, DrPH – UCLA
Jeffrey Klausner, MD - UCLA
Multidisciplinary Expertise:
Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, partner testing, Point of Care testing
Project Description:
Maternal acquisition of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and vaccine preventable diseases during pregnancy could lead to poor health outcomes in both the mother and the infant. Women are at higher risk for acquiring STIs including HIV during pregnancy for both biological reasons such as physiological immunosuppression as well as behavioral ones such as decreased condom use. Prior research at our site in Porto Alegre, Brazil shows that approximately half of male partners are willing to attend prenatal care to receive point of care testing for HIV, and if infected, are successfully entered into treatment to avoid transmission to pregnant woman and infants. Our aim in this new phase is to use mixed methods to better involve fathers in prenatal care in order to screen and treat them for various STIs and vaccine preventable diseases. With early diagnosis, counseling and treatment, we hope to decrease the rates of preventable congenital and neonatal infections.