Gillings School researchers are tackling health issues in Latin America, including chronic conditions, clean water, infant feeding and healthy food policies.
Regardless of the language you speak or where you live, we all experience health challenges – ones that we share, knowingly or unknowingly, with people around the world.
Addressing public health concerns, like chronic conditions and infectious disease, requires understanding an array of settings, cultures and strategies to improve outcomes globally and apply these insights locally. This collaborative process leads to better health for all.
Latin American countries are some of our closest neighbors – places where Gillings School researchers are putting the local-global mindset to work.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Improving care for chronic conditions
Researchers in health behavior, like Professor** Clare Barrington, PhD**, and Assistant Professor Deshira Wallace, PhD, are study how psychological and social stressors affect prevention and management of chronic conditions in the Dominican Republic. Their goal is to improve health care and support systems to provide holistic care and reduce barriers to treatment for vulnerable communities.
Barrington focuses on HIV treatment, a condition at the intersection of infectious and chronic disease management. Advances in medicine allow people with HIV to live longer, but stigma can hinder their navigation of the health care system, especially if they have another chronic condition, like diabetes. HIV care physicians can manage social determinants that lead to better HIV outcomes but often can’t treat other conditions.
“The success of HIV care delivery has generated this need to re-think how health care is structured for vulnerable populations,” she said.
BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, CHILE, MEXICO, U.S.
The epigenetics of kidney and liver diseases and obesity
People of Hispanic/Latino origin are often underrepresented in genetic studies that inform treatment strategies, especially for conditions like obesity, chronic kidney disease and chronic liver disease.
Researchers in epidemiology like Professors Nora Francescini, MD, and Kari North, PhD, investigate how multi-omics – variations in biological processes, genetics, metabolism, environment and more – affect disease susceptibility, detection and management for Hispanic/Latino communities. They have studied populations in many Central and South American countries and Americans of Hispanic/Latino ancestry.
CENTRAL AMERICA
The epidemiology of chronic kidney disease in rural communities
Chronic kidney disease of unknown cause is highly prevalent in several Central American countries and the U.S. Researchers in epidemiology like Franceschini and Professor Larry Engel, PhD, study job exposures, medications and other risk factors for chronic kidney disease in rural communities to better understand disease causes and identify preventable factors. This work is a collaboration with several Central American sites known to be hotspots of chronic kidney disease.
BOLIVIA
Water security and sanitation solutions
Bolivia has recently faced severe droughts and water shortages. Research from Professor Joe Brown, PhD, contributes to environmental sciences and engineering solutions that deliver water and sanitation to the greatest amount of people under challenging conditions.
Brown also explores Far-UVC, a safe, affordable ultraviolet radiation technology used to sanitize indoor spaces and prevent spread of infection. Far-UVC lamps can be used in health care facilities to prevent hospital-acquired infections resistant to antibiotic treatment.
Antimicrobial resistance is increasing globally and will significantly impact human health, making affordable sanitation solutions even more necessary.
“Antimicrobial resistance is what’s going to kill all of us eventually,” he said. “Suddenly that little scrape you have on your knee is not something that an antibiotic is going to take care of.”
ECUADOR, GALAPAGOS, GUATEMALA, NICARAGUA
Improving environmental safety and nutrition for kids
Professor Sylvia Becker-Dreps, MD, MPH, an epidemiologist and family physician, studies infectious diseases impacting children in Guatemala and Nicaragua, focusing on digestive system viruses causing harmful diarrhea. Her current research in Guatemala examines how the mother’s immune system may protect their infants against norovirus, informing future vaccine design. Reducing diarrhea impacts a child’s nutritional status and development.
“The work we are doing to understand how babies develop immunity to norovirus is already informing pediatric norovirus vaccines in the U.S., too,” she said.
In the Galapagos and Ecuador, Professor Amanda Thompson, PhD, researches nutritional and environmental factors shaping a child’s long-term health and obesity risk, including food security, access to clean drinking water, improved breastfeeding practices, and mental health and educational support for parents.
CHILE
Food label policies to reduce ultraprocessed food consumption
Nutrition researchers, including Distinguished Professor Barry Popkin, PhD, Distinguished Scholar Shu Wen Ng, PhD, and Associate Professor Lindsey Smith Taillie, PhD, evaluate public health policies in Latin America to moderate the negative impacts of ultraprocessed foods high in sugar, salts and other unhealthy additives. These foods contribute to obesity and chronic disease globally.
Their studies on labels, taxes and marketing laws on ultraprocessed foods in Chile show that these policies support healthier diet choices, reduce exposure to ultraprocessed foods and even lead to product reformulation. These policies provide a framework for change in other Latin American countries and could inspire future change in other nations.
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