The Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, seeks a Ph.D. student in Epidemiology. It's a full time position for two and a half years, funded through the Icelandic Research Fund.

The doctoral student will work on a project studying the experiences and outcomes of adolescent girls and young women accessing pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV (PrEP) in Mozambique. 

In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) are at substantially increased risk of HIV acquisition compared to their male peers, accounting for 75% of HIV infections in their age group. PrEP is highly efficacious and is becoming a cornerstone of HIV prevention efforts in many key populations around the world. However, in practice, evidence on effectiveness of PrEP among women in sub- Saharan Africa has been mixed, largely due to challenges with retention in care and medication adherence.

Mozambique has one of the top ten HIV epidemics in the world, but PrEP introduction has lagged behind neighboring countries. In Central Mozambique, PrEP is targeted toward adolescent girls and young women, and is distributed at public health clinics. The project aims to describe the current PrEP care cascade in Manica Province, Mozambique; assemble a cohort of AGYW initiating PrEP in Mozambique and collect data on patient factors associated with poor retention in care; describe provider experiences with PrEP service expansion and associations with facility performance; and conduct formative work for a clinical trial of a systems improvement intervention for PrEP services in Mozambique.

Main tasks

The student will participate in study initiation, including human subjects applications and development of data collection instruments; will clean data, monitor data collection and take on other study-related tasks as needed once the study has launched; and will participate in analyzing data and writing up results. The project involves close collaboration with the implementing organization in Mozambique, and the student may have an opportunity to accompany the principal investigator on a site visit if desired.