Dr. Monica Swahn, professor at Georgia State University School of Public Health and associate vice president for research at Georgia State University, has received a two-year, $390,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the role of alcohol marketing and early alcohol use among African youth acquiring HIV. “While alcohol research in Africa has been scarce, alcohol use in Sub-Saharan Africa has been found to be associated with unprotected sex and other health concerns,” said Dr. Swahn. “This grant will allow us to examine alcohol use in Uganda specifically, which has one of the highest per capita consumption levels world-wide. We will develop ways to help reduce the extent to which early alcohol use increases risk for HIV transmission among 12 to 18 year olds.”