The UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health is a subcontractor and the only U.S. university partner in a cooperative agreement newly signed between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG).

The agreement, “Building Capacity along the Continuum from Prevention to Care and Treatment for Key Populations in the Central America Region under PEPFAR,” will build upon research conducted under two active grants co-led by Dr. Clare Barrington, assistant professor of health behavior at the Gillings School.

Dr. Barrington and her co-primary investigator at UVG, Ms. Sonia Morales Miranda, director of the HIV Research Unit at the UVG Center for Health Studies, have studied over the course of six years ways to improve HIV prevention and linkages to HIV care and retention in care among key populations for over six years. Specifically, their work focuses on men who have sex with men and transgender women, the two populations most affected by HIV in Guatemala.

Under the new five-year, 15-million dollar award, Dr. Barrington will collaborate with Ms. Morales and the UVG HIV Research Unit on qualitative research, intervention development and evaluation across the entire Central American region.

“This new award reflects UVG’s leadership in addressing HIV disparities among key populations in Central America,” said Dr. Barrington. “It also represents an important step in the collaboration between UVG and UNC and is an exciting opportunity for both institutions to grow and expand the coverage of our work and training opportunities for our students.”