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INFORMATION FOR

    Nigeria

    Site Institution: University of Jos
    Research Areas: HPV, Cervical Cancer

    Site Description
    Dr. Jonah Musa and Dr. Purnima Madhivanan have been collaborating since 2019 in the prevention and control of cervical cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their first project was a scoping review of community-engaged approaches to cervical cancer prevention and control. Their second project is a systematic review on the association between infections and statins and biofilm (currently in progress). Dr. Musa is a Fogarty/NIH trained physician-scientist currently working in NIH FIC cancer training programs. Dr. Madhivanan has been an NIH FIC global health mentor and collaborating PI for the past 9 years. As an infectious disease epidemiologist with strong emphasis on cervical cancer screening research, she complements Dr. Musa’s research on cervical cancer screening, survival outcomes for invasive cervical cancer, and vaginal microbiome in cervical precancer and invasive cancer.

    The University of Jos has 1,263 academic staff, 2,140 non-academic and support staff and a total enrollment of 13,789 undergraduate and 8,094 postgraduate students (2015/2016 academic session). The University has 10 faculties, 10 directorates and 8 centers. The University has attracted external research support from various donors and funders. The Department of Mathematics received a research grant from Hewlett Packard to develop computer models in teaching and research and the Department of Geography received a McMaster grant for spatial research. A 9-year (2004-2013) grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York Grant supported capacity development in research management and administration, information and communication technology, female student empowerment, infrastructure development, financial management and corporate governance. The University’s natural scientists and technologists in the Centre for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering were supported by a World Bank STEP-B project grant to engage in research and the commercial cultivation of Artemisia annua, the key plant in Artemisin-based Combination Therapy (ACT). The Japan International Cooperation Agency furnished a laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry. Seed Research Grants of $5,000 are being awarded to middle and junior academics to help them pilot some of their studies and publish in academic journals that are indexed in PubMed. The African Center of Excellence in Phytomedicine Research and Development (ACEPRD) is a recipient of $8m from the World Bank for research and training in phytomedicine. Participating multidisciplinary faculties are from pharmaceutical sciences, medical sciences, and biological and natural sciences. In its for M.Sc/PhD degrees. Since then, the University has developed new courses in 2015 admission, the program had had 9 students from Africa and 28 national students bioinformatics and genomics, clinical pharmacology, pharmaceutical microbiology, pharmaceutical biotechnology, and pharmacognosy (phytomedicine). Currently, it plans to admit 80 students, of which 16 are from West Africa.

    Current research projects include:
    • West Africa Self-Sampling HPV Based Cervical Cancer Control Program (WA-SS-HCCP) for WLWHA (NIH/NCI, U01CA275129)
    • Northwestern/Nigeria Research Training Program in HIV and Malignancies (NN-HAM) (NIH/FIC/NCI, D43TW009575)
    • Vaginal Microbiome in Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia and Cancer
    • (5K43TW011416-04, NIH/FIC)


    Mentors

    GHES Alumni

    • Auwal Abubakar
      Dr. Abubakar will spend his fellowship year at the University of Jos in Nigeria under the mentorship of Jonah Musa, MBBS, MSCI, PhD and Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD. His research will focus on factors influencing cervical cancer screening among women living with HIV in Nigeria using a case-control study design. Dr. Abubakar received his Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He aspires to become an independent researcher and expert in global health. He has over five years of experience working as a physician and as an incidence manager of the polio emergency operations center in Nigeria (IM-EOC), and he has assisted with health research.
    • Maryam Ali
      Dr. Ali will spend her fellowship year at the National Cancer Institute in Jos, Nigeria under the mentorship of Jonah Musa, MBBS, MSCI, PhD, and Purnima Madhivanan, MBBS, MPH, PhD. Her research will focus on behavioral and microbiological determinants of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections among HIV positive adolescent girls and young women in Jos, Nigeria. Dr. Ali is a medical doctor at the University of Jos. She aims to become an independent investigator studying the epidemiology and prevention of HPV infection and cervical cancer among the Nigerian population. She has over six years of experience providing clinical services, conducting clinical research, training, and advocating for contemporary issues related to women and their reproductive health.
    • Magdiel Habila
      Fellowship Site: University Of Jos, NigeriaUS Institution: University Of ArizonaProject Title: Barriers and Facilitators to Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women in Jos Nigeria: A Mixed Methods Study ProposalCervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths among Nigerian women. There is a consensus in the literature that the primary reasons for such high mortality include limited access to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, lack or access to and/or limited knowledge about cervical cancer screening, and the prevalence of HIV infection in the general population. In Nigeria, like in many low- and middle-income countries, the gold standard for cervical cancer screening is visual inspection via acetic acid, and this has proven to be cost effective in detecting cancer. However, while there are health systems in place meant to detect and treat cervical cancer, the literature suggests that there are several barriers to accessing health systems in Nigeria.The purpose of this study is to identify and describe barriers and facilitators to accessing cervical cancer screening in Central Nigeria from patient and provider perspectives and to determine ways to leverage Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) process to develop and sustain increased uptake of screening services in order to downstage cervical cancer incidence among at risk women. Using a mixed-methods design, we aim to describe the barriers and facilitators to screening among women living in Jos and surrounding communities and determine the effect of HIV status on the use of screening services. We also aim to provide recommendations to JUTH in order to optimize screening services for these women.