Monica Malta | |
|---|---|
 Malta in 2022 | |
| Born | September 20, 1970 |
| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Social Epidemiology |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins University University of Toronto |
Monica Malta is a Brazilian researcher who works mostly to address health inequalities faced by LGBTQ persons. [1] She is currently a professor at the University of Toronto and a scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She was elected a TED fellow in 2022. [2]
Malta was born in Brazil. As a young woman she was part of an abusive relationship, but was able to complete her studies at night. Her undergraduate studies at the Rio de Janeiro State University focused on social psychology, when she worked to improve the available treatments for people who use drugs living in slums/favelas from Rio de Janeiro. [3] She completed both her Masters of Public Health and doctoral research at the National School of Public Health Sérgio Arouca. [4] During her graduate studies she worked and studied to improve the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS, [5] [6] and Brazilian women living in deep poverty and experiencing violence. [7] [8] [9]
She was awarded a National Institutes of Health award and moved to the United States, continuing her studies at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Malta received several international awards from National Institute on Drug Abuse, the World Health Organization, among others [10] At the time she had two young daughters, studying during the day and working as a dishwasher at nigh to support them. [11] Malta started a postdoctoral research in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University, focusing her studies in human rights violations. [12]
Malta studies the societal structures that impact the adoption of public health behavior. [13] She has particularly looked at the mental health and HIV diagnoses of people from marginalized groups. [13] She has focused on developing resources for LGBTQ+ people. Amongst the resources she has created, she launched an app that provided information on safe spaces in Brazil for LGBTQ+ people. [14] [15]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Malta switched her research focus to the emerging coronavirus. She was diagnosed with the virus in May 2020, and went on to suffer from Long COVID. [16] Her research focused on how South America responded to the pandemic. The region suffers from slow vaccination rates, social inequality and underfunded health systems. [17] She was awarded the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health (CanWaCH) Award for Canadian Excellence in Global Health and Gender Equality in 2020, [18] and was a 2021 Women of Inspiration Finalist. [19] She went on to investigate the mental health experiences of healthcare providers who were treating patients with COVID-19. [18]
Malta was elected a TED fellow in 2022. [2] Her fellowship advocated for human rights and the development of resources to mitigate the impacts of gender-based violence. [2] She is currently serving on the leadership team of 500 Women Scientists. [20]
The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV, found its way to the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs, and education programs to help people avoid infection.
This is a timeline of HIV/AIDS, including cases before 1980.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention, commonly known as PrEP, is a form of medication used to prevent HIV infection, the cause of HIV/AIDS.
The first AIDS case identified in Brazil was in 1982. Infection rates climbed exponentially throughout the 1980s, and in 1990 the World Bank famously predicted 1,200,000 cases by 2000, approximately double the actual number that was later reported by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and most international organizations. South and Southeast have 75% or more of this infection. The Northeast has 33% of the population but only 10% of AIDS.
In 2016, the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in adults aged 15–49 was 0.3%, relatively low for a developing country. This low prevalence has been maintained, as in 2006, the HIV prevalence in Mexico was estimated at around 0.3% as well. The infected population is remains mainly concentrated among high risk populations, men who have sex with other men, intravenous drug users, and commercial sex workers. This low national prevalence is not reflected in the high-risk populations. The prison population in Mexico, faces a fairly similar low rate of around 0.7%. Among the population of prisoners, around 2% are known to be infected with HIV. Sex workers, male and female, face an HIV prevalence of around 7%. Identifying gay men and men who have sex with other men have a prevalence of 17.4%. The highest risk-factor group is identifying transgender people; about 17.4% of this population is known to be infected with HIV. Around 90% of new infections occur by sex-related methods of transmission. Of these known infected populations, around 60% of living infected people are known to be on anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
Various topics in medicine relate particularly to the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals as well as other sexual and gender minorities. According to the US National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center, these areas include sexual and reproductive health, mental health, substance use disorders, HIV/AIDS, HIV-related cancers, intimate partner violence, issues surrounding marriage and family recognition, breast and cervical cancer, inequities in healthcare and access to care. In medicine, various nomenclature, including variants of the acronym LGBTQIA+, are used as an umbrella term to refer to individuals who are non-heterosexual, non-heteroromantic, or non-cis gendered. Specific groups within this community have their own distinct health concerns, however are often grouped together in research and discussions. This is primarily because these sexual and gender minorities groups share the effects of stigmatization based on their gender identity or expression, and/or sexual orientation or affection orientation. Furthermore, there are subpopulations among LGBTQIA+ groups based on factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, and age, all of which can impact healthcare outcomes.
In Kenya, drug use is an ongoing prevalent issue among those from both rural and urban areas of the country. Drugs such as inhalants, narcotics, and prescription drugs have been abused, resulting in societal issues such as social stigmas, poverty, peer pressure. These issues have had significant repercussions, including increased violence, strain on healthcare services, heightened vulnerability to HIV infection, and chemical dependence. In response, local communities and the national government have undertaken initiatives to tackle these challenges.
Steffanie A. Strathdee is the Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences, Harold Simon Distinguished Professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Co-Director at the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics. She is known for her work on HIV research and prevention programmes in Tijuana.
Flashblood is an intravenous drug administration technique used by recreational drug users in which an individual injects himself with blood extracted from another drug user, most commonly one who has injected heroin. The purpose of the technique is to experience substance intoxication or to help combat symptoms of drug withdrawal. The practice was first documented in an announcement submitted by Sheryl A. McCurdy, et al., in an October 2005 issue of BMJ. First reported to be practiced in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the practice had spread to other areas in East Africa by 2010.
Discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS or serophobia is the prejudice, fear, rejection, and stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS. Marginalized, at-risk groups such as members of the LGBTQ+ community, intravenous drug users, and sex workers are most vulnerable to facing HIV/AIDS discrimination. The consequences of societal stigma against PLHIV are quite severe, as HIV/AIDS discrimination actively hinders access to HIV/AIDS screening and care around the world. Moreover, these negative stigmas become used against members of the LGBTQ+ community in the form of stereotypes held by physicians.
Low-threshold treatment programs are harm reduction-based health care centers targeted towards people who use substances. "Low-threshold" programs are programs that make minimal demands on the patient, offering services without attempting to control their intake of drugs, and providing counselling only if requested. Low-threshold programs may be contrasted with "high-threshold" programs, which require the user to accept a certain level of control and which demand that the patient accept counselling and cease all drug use as a precondition of support.
With an estimated 120,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Colombia is consistent with the epidemic in much of Latin America as a whole, both in terms of prevalence of infection and characteristics of transmission and affected populations. Colombia has a relatively low rate of HIV infection at 0.4%. Certain groups, particularly men who have sex with men, bear the burden of significantly higher rates of infection than the general population. Colombia's health care system and conception of a "right to health", created by the T-760 decision of 2008, have revolutionized access to HIV treatment. Despite this, the quality of health insurance and treatment for HIV has often been disputed.
Anna-Louise Crago is a Canadian activist, researcher and author in the field of Sex workers' rights. She has also researched violence and other human rights abuses against sex workers, the homeless and drug addicts in more than 25 countries. Crago is a former sex worker, and has had several works published.
Cristina Possas de Albuquerque is a Brazilian public health scientist working with infectious diseases and emerging infectious diseases from an eco-social perspective.
The Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH) is the first phage therapy center in North America, founded in the UC San Diego School of Medicine in June 2018, with seed funding from UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla. The center was founded by Steffanie A. Strathdee and Robert "Chip" Schooley, both professors at UC San Diego School of Medicine. The center currently treats patients with life-threatening multi-drug resistant infections with phage therapy, on a case-by-case basis, through the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) compassionate use program. IPATH aims to initiate phase I/II phage therapy clinical trials, focusing on patients with cystic fibrosis and infections related to implantable hardware, such as pacemakers and prosthetic joints. The first planned clinical trial is set to look at otherwise healthy cystic fibrosis patients that are shedding Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The first case of HIV in a woman was recorded in 1981. Since then, numerous women have been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. The majority of HIV/AIDS cases in women are directly influenced by high-risk sexual activities, injectional drug use, the spread of medical misinformation, and the lack of adequate reproductive health resources in the United States. Women of color, LGBTQ women, homeless women, women in the sex trade, and women intravenous drug users are at a high-risk for contracting the HIV/AIDS virus. In an article published by the Annual Review of Sociology, Celeste Watkins Hayes, an American sociologist, scholar, and professor wrote, "Women are more likely to be forced into survival-focused behaviors such as transactional sex for money, housing, protection, employment, and other basic needs; power-imbalanced relationships with older men; and other partnerings in which they cannot dictate the terms of condom use, monogamy, or HIV." The largest motivator to become part of the sex trade was addiction, the second largest being basic needs, and the third was to support their children/family.
Robert "Chip" T. Schooley is an American infectious disease physician, who is the Vice Chair of Academic Affairs, Senior Director of International Initiatives, and Co-Director at the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH), at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. He is an expert in HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) infection and treatment, and in 2016, was the first physician to treat a patient in the United States with intravenous bacteriophage therapy for a systemic bacterial infection.
Lisa Bowleg is an applied social psychologist known for conducting research on intersectionality in social and behavioral science and the relationship between social-contextual factors and stress, resilience, and HIV risk in Black communities.
Monica Gandhi is an American physician and professor. She teaches medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and is director of the UCSF Gladstone Center for AIDS Research and the medical director of the San Francisco General Hospital HIV Clinic, Ward 86. Her research considers HIV prevalence in women, as well as HIV treatment and prevention. She has been noted as a critic of some aspects of the COVID-19 lockdowns in the US.
INPUD is an international non-profit organization grouping local groups and collectives of people who use illicit drugs, which aims at "A world where people who use drugs are free to live their lives with dignity." INPUD was founded in 2006 in Vancouver, Canada, and formally launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 1 November 2008.
| Authority control databases: Academics |
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