Free prostate cancer testing

CHAPEL HILL -- The Urology Clinic at UNC Hospitals will offer free prostate cancer screenings from 1 to 7 p.m. Sept. 23-24 for all men over 40 years old or with a family history of prostate cancer. The screenings, which are being conducted as part of National Prostate Health Month, consist of a blood test and digital rectal exam. No appointment is necessary. For additional information, go to www.med.unc.edu/urology or call (919) 966-1315.

UNC gets $2.7M for HIV study

CHAPEL HILL -- UNC has been awarded a $2.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study if monetary incentives and community mobilization can help prevent young South African women from becoming infected with HIV.

Audrey Pettifor, an assistant professor of epidemiology at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health, is the study's principal investigator and a faculty fellow at the Carolina Population Center, where the study is based.

In South Africa, HIV rates are three to four times higher in young women than in young men, and by the time a woman turns 21, she has a 1-in-3 chance of being infected. Pettifor's previous research found that young South African women who had not completed high school were almost four times more likely to have HIV than those who had.

The new study will enroll 1,500 low-income households with young women in the ninth grade. A portion will receive a monthly cash payment if the girl attends school. The study will examine if girls whose families get payments are at lower risk for infection than those who don't.

The payment, of 300 rand ($37) a month, is enough to meet the basic food needs of a family of four for a month.

Researchers also will look at the impact of village-based community mobilization activities to inform young men about risk behaviors and prevention of HIV infection, and address how changing gender norms can create environments that reduce women's risk of infection.

The study is being conducted in partnership with the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit and the Agincourt Health and Population Unit, both of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Malaria vaccine trial begins

CHAPEL HILL -- The phase III trial of the potential malaria vaccine known as RTS,S has begun in Malawi with the help of researchers from UNC's Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases.

The launch follows the initiation in Tanzania in May of the phase III trial, which is expected to enroll up to 16,000 children and infants in seven countries throughout Africa. GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals developed and manufactures the vaccine, and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) is providing technical and financial support.

The first dose of the investigational vaccine was administered at UNC Project-Malawi in Lilongwe, the country's capital. Researchers at the site will recruit and enroll 1,600 children and expect the initial three-dose vaccination will be completed by December.

Francis Martinson, country director of UNC Project-Malawi and principal investigator on the study, said developing a vaccine against malaria is critical to defeating the disease. Despite current efforts, malaria still kills close to 900,000 people each year, with most deaths occurring in Africa among children under the age of 5.

If the phase III program progresses as expected, researchers believe RTS,S could be submitted for regulatory review as early as 2011, introduced for use in children aged 5 months to 17 months in 2012, and be fully available by 2014.