Central Africa International Epidemiology databases to Evaluate AIDS

Project Summary/Abstract The IeDEA network aims to investigate the impact of climate, seasonal fluctuations, and extreme weather on HIV care outcomes. Gaps in care, engagement in care, and loss to care are not fully explained by current data collected by IeDEA. Climate-related data are currently being incorporated into IeDEA data, as weather and climate directly and indirectly influence these outcomes, especially in areas with limited infrastructure and high food insecurity. The study aims to explore associations between extreme weather events and HIV service utilization and care outcomes among people receiving HIV care around the world. To achieve this, a supplement proposal has been prepared by the Central African IeDEA region to support this new area of global investigation in IeDEA. The IeDEA network includes longitudinal open cohort data on over 2 million people with HIV from more than 450 clinics in 44 countries since 2004. The climate dataset used for this work includes daily temperature and rainfall information onward from the early 1980s, allowing for the analysis of climate exposures before and during the provision of HIV care services. This supplement proposal will help accelerate this work and engage a larger group of multidisciplinary investigators to focus on climate and health research within the global IeDEA network. The supplement project has three main aims: Aim 1: Create a climate and health scientific interest group within IeDEA; Aim 2: Operationalize extreme weather event (EWE) exposure variables for HIV care outcome studies; Aim 3: Conduct preliminary analyses of associations between EWEs and HIV care outcomes in the IeDEA network. The proposed aims are within the scope of the parent grant: Aim 3 of the Central Africa IeDEA parent grant states that we will ‘lead and support a global IeDEA research agenda’. This proposed work will establish a global community of investigators and a platform for research collaboration on climate and HIV care outcomes. The project will facilitate the sharing of ideas, climate datasets, and tools across different teams of investigators. The support provided by a supplement will help to generate preliminary analyses for R01 proposals and engage with IeDEA investigators interested in climate and HIV. This research will have relevance to other health conditions for which climate may play a role. The proposed research is responsive under the ‘Health Effects Research’ and ‘Capacity Building’ pillars of NOT-HD-23-006.