There are about 115 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Botswana. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
The study will evaluate the clinical efficacy of different dosing regimens of the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (100 mcg) in preventing COVID-19 disease in people who are living with HIV or have comorbidities associated with elevated risk of severe COVID-19, with the different vaccine regimens assessed determined by whether the participant had evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection at enrollment.
It is important to make sure that women have access to effective methods of contraception to prevent pregnancy so that they can make choices about when and if they will have their first or next child. Some of the most effective methods of contraception are the long-acting, reversible methods of contraception (LARCS), including the contraceptive implant and the contraceptive injection. In areas of the world where there are high numbers of people living with HIV, providing contraception to women is sometimes complicated, as there are known to be interactions between some of the medications that treat HIV and some hormonal methods of contraception. One medication to treat HIV, dolutegravir, is now one of the first-line treatments for HIV in Botswana, and more and more women of childbearing age are taking dolutegravir to treat HIV. At the moment, there is limited information on whether or not there are interactions between dolutegravir (the HIV medication) and the contraceptive implant or the contraceptive injection, two commonly used methods of contraception in Botswana. The main purpose of this study is to find out if women using contraception and also taking dolutegravir have lower levels of contraceptive hormone in their blood compared to women taking no HIV treatment. The study hypothesis is that there is no interaction between dolutegravir and the contraceptive implant or injection. In this study, levels of hormone from the injection or the implant will be measured in women living with HIV who take dolutegravir and compared to hormone levels in women who do not have HIV and who have never taken any medications to treat HIV. Women will be counselled about all of the possible methods of contraception (including the pill, the injection, the implant and the copper intrauterine device (or coil/loop)) that are available and will be empowered to make their own decision about the method of contraception they feel will be best for them. Women who choose the implant or the injection will be invited to enrol in the study; and will be categorised into one of four groups, based on whether or not they are living with HIV and taking dolutegravir. At several time points, women will have blood tests to check the level of hormone from the implant or the injection, over a course of 12 weeks for women starting the injection and 24 weeks for women starting the implant. Women will also be asked to complete a short questionnaire about any side effects from the contraception including changes to bleeding patterns. At the end of the 12 weeks (for women starting the injection) or 24 weeks (for women starting the implant), the results from these blood samples will be analysed to see how the levels of the hormone in their blood changed over time. The study will also look at whether the levels of dolutegravir (the HIV medication) changed over time. These results will be compared between women living with HIV taking dolutegravir and women without HIV who have never taken dolutegravir to see whether there is any interaction between dolutegravir and the hormonal contraceptive implant or contraceptive injection.
Today, nearly 37 million people are living with HIV (PLHIV) worldwide and 30 to 40% of them will have neurologic complications leading to disability. Our long-term working hypothesis is that an effective solution for increasing rehabilitation access in Botswana and improving functional outcomes of PLHIV having experienced a stroke with or without HIV uses an affordable robot and mobile health technologies to create a cost-effective intervention strategy. For this project, we test the feasibility of affordable robot therapy.
Primary high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) testing has become first line screening for cervical cancer in high-income countries. The feasibility of this approach in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is less clear, as is the role of HPV testing among women living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The proposed study seeks to evaluate the accuracy of cervical cancer screening algorithms using primary HPV testing followed by various forms of visual evaluation, including visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), colposcopy and automated visual evaluation (AVE) for the detection of high-grade cervical dysplasia, using histology as the gold standard. We will validate the AmpFire Assay for HPV self-sampling in our setting. We will determine safe screening intervals in women living with HIV (WLHIV) in an HPV-based cervical cancer screening program and compare triage strategies for positive HPV results at WHO recommended screening intervals for WLHIV. We also seek to understand in-depth the attitudes, acceptability and preferences regarding cervical cancer screening, HPV testing, and self-sampling, for women in Botswana through interviews of a sub-set of women recruited for the cervical cancer screening study. Finally, we will analyze the cost of two-stage cervical cancer screening algorithms using high-risk HPV testing in Botswana.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate response to and safety of the HBV vaccine HEPLISAV-B in two study populations living with HIV: prior HBV vaccine recipients who are deemed non-responders and individuals who are naïve to HBV vaccination.
This study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the long-acting injectable agent cabotegravir (CAB LA) compared to daily oral tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in HIV-uninfected women.
Dolutegravir is a potent integrase strand transfer inhibitor. Abacavir/dolutegravir/lamivudine (ABC/DTG/3TC) is a fixed dose combination regimen containing two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and dolutegravir. This is a phase 3b, non-randomized, open-label, multi-center, two treatment rollover study. The primary objective of this pediatric interventional study is to provide continued access to age appropriate formulations of investigational product (dolutegravir), either as Tivicay or as part of fixed dose combination ABC/DTG/3TC, for eligible participants who previously participated in parent studies P1093 (NCT01302847) or P2019 (NCT03760458) and who cannot locally access age appropriate formulations of dolutegravir or ABC/DTG/3TC in the public sector. The P1093 study was designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, tolerability and antiviral activity of dolutegravir in combination with optimized background regimens in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) experienced adolescents and children as well as treatment naïve infants and toddlers. The P2019 study was designed to evaluate PK, safety, tolerability and antiviral activity of ABC/DTG/3TC dispersible and immediate release tablets in HIV-1-infected children. Participants who have tolerated investigational product in the parent studies without any significant toxicity or signs of virologic failure leading to the permanent discontinuation of investigational product and withdrawal from the parent study will be considered for this open label continued access study. Participants will receive their age/weight appropriate dose of investigational product as defined in the parent study. The duration of participation in the study will extend until age appropriate formulations of Tivicay or ABC/DTG/3TC receive local (by country) regulatory approval and are available in those countries from another source (e.g. government programs, aid programs, assistance programs, etc.) or the participant is no longer deriving benefit from treatment or meets a protocol defined reason for discontinuation. Participants will be enrolled after all screening procedures have been completed. In most cases, the Screening visit will overlap with the participants penultimate visit on the parent study (at Week 180 of P1093, or Week 36 of the P2019 study). Participants who meet all entry criteria may enroll and will be seen in the clinic every 12 weeks for a safety evaluation and to receive investigational product. It is estimated that no more than 300 participants will be enrolled in this study. Tivicay is a registered trademark of ViiV Healthcare.
The overall objective of this study is to determine whether very early antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation in HIV-infected infants limits the seeding of viral reservoirs and maintains immune responses, potentially allowing future periods off ART.
Dolutegravir (DTG) is an HIV drug in the integrase inhibitor drug class. This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, tolerability of and immune response to DTG when used concurrently with optimized background therapy (OBT) in HIV-1 infected infants, children, and adolescents.