Hope Neighbor of Camber Collective in the U.S. will use applied behavioral research to better understand how and why young, sexually active women who are approaching marriage in West Africa make decisions on family planning products. Women appear to regulate their fertility differently based on their specific situation and needs. Young women who are not yet married tend to use unsafe or ineffective practices such as herbal remedies and abortion. They will recruit women in this group to fill out journals to generate evidence on the nature of their fertility planning needs and identify specific attributes of contraceptives that would fit better into their daily lives. They will also develop hypothetical prototype contraceptives by involving the participants in a card game to identify ways of modifying existing contraceptives, such as enabling over-the-counter availability, and key attributes for future contraceptives that better suit their needs.

Glenna Bett of SUNY University at Buffalo in the U.S. proposes to develop a device to treat postpartum hemorrhage suitable for use even when medical facilities are absent or minimal, and in non-sterile environments. If successful, this has the potential to reduce perinatal deaths worldwide.

Mario Ostrowski of the University of Toronto in Canada will test the theory that alterations of host cells by HIV might also activate human endogenous retroviruses in the same cells. Ostrowski will express antigens of an endogenous retrovirus to study whether they might also mark HIV infected cells, providing a basis for the development of a new HIV vaccine.

Jacob McKnight and Mike Wilson of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom will develop a simple application that contains information about the quality, location, and the nature and cost of services provided by the different pathology laboratories in Kenya so that doctors and patients can choose the one that best suits their needs. They will conduct surveys to collect key information on the pathology laboratories in the Nairobi area, and consult with doctors and medical associations to find out how they use those laboratory services and what needs to be improved. They will build the application using these data and in collaboration with users. Ultimately, the system should also help to improve the overall quality of services.