Be a world of good
A poverty-stricken city on the murky shore of Lake Victoria, Kisumu is the third-largest city in Kenya. It also sits in the heart of a region with an alarmingly high HIV-infection rate: More than 18 percent of Kisumu County residents have the life-threatening virus, many of them unaware.
It was here that Saloni Parikh, now a UW senior double majoring in computer science and public health, spent three weeks in the summer of 2013 as part of a research study aimed at curbing the disease鈥檚 transmission. Called HOPE (Home-based Partner Education and Testing), the ongoing UW study measures the benefits of in-home HIV testing, counseling and follow-ups for pregnant mothers and their partners. To succeed, though, the study needed data, mobile devices to collect it and training 鈥� and this is where Saloni came in.
For months, Saloni had been working in a UW computer science lab聽鈥� called Information and Communication Technologies and Development, or ICTD 鈥斅�that focuses on using technology to help underserved, low-income populations across the world. As a programmer for the HOPE study, she regularly met with researchers from the to determine their needs, and then used her technical know-how to program data-collection software into Android devices for field use.
Explore the UW
Soon, she was putting her work to the test. She flew to Kisumu to train a data manager and a small team of nurses and community health workers. 鈥淚t was a lot of pressure,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut they were so excited about learning this technology, which made things easier.鈥� For weeks, the team met in a clinic just down the road from Kisumu District Hospital. Though many of them had never held smartphones before, Saloni quickly taught the enthusiastic team how to use them to collect data during in-home screenings and follow-ups, then to submit the data to a server.
Once the health workers began collecting patient information digitally 鈥� rather than the time-consuming and error-prone process of recording it on paper 鈥� researchers were able to get results and make adjustments to the study much more quickly. 鈥淪eeing the direct impact of applying computer science to HIV testing and counseling projects was really exciting,鈥� Saloni says.
Today, nearly two years since she traveled to Kenya, Saloni is still involved in the HOPE study, which is still collecting data. She communicates via Skype with a research team in Kenya several days a week, and she is working as a programmer for several other projects with the Department of Global Health鈥檚 Kenya Research Program. Along the way, she鈥檚 become part of a diverse community of students, researchers and professors from many different departments, all of them committed to using technology to change lives.
Armed with a robust skillset that is very much in demand 鈥� and life-changing work experiences to boot 鈥� Saloni will continue using her programming skills when she graduates in June. She鈥檚 already lined up a job as a developer for DF/Net Research in Seattle, where she will focus on mobile data collection for research projects in low-resource settings.
鈥淲ith data collection, I鈥檝e found my thing,鈥� she says. 鈥淪eeing the potential to apply these computer science methods to projects in global health has been really exciting for me.鈥�
Fast facts: HOPE
The HOPE (Home-based Partner Education and Testing) study is a project of , a UW professor of medicine, epidemiology and global health. An ongoing clinical trial in Kenya with 600 women enrolled, it measures:
- The impact of home-based HIV testing and counseling for pregnant women and their partners during and after pregnancy
- The effect of partner education on lowering HIV transmission
- Additional critical maternal and infant health outcomes
- The cost-effectiveness of traveling to people鈥檚 homes to perform HIV testing and counseling
Though the study is not yet completed, women and male partners enrolled in the HOPE study have been very accepting of home-based education and testing. Researchers have also identified a number of HIV-positive individuals who were unaware of their status 鈥� a crucial step in stopping the spread of the disease.
Gallery
Beyond the lab: Natya
Despite Saloni鈥檚 busy schedule, she still finds time 鈥� 10 to 18 hours a week, in fact 鈥� to dance. She鈥檚 been a member of the UW鈥檚 student-run Indian classical dance team, , since she was a freshman, but she鈥檚 been studying the art since she was 7. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to stop when I went to college, so that was the main reason I decided to go to the UW,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here are so many things to do here in addition to academics 鈥� you can keep doing what you love to do.鈥�
Past performances have featured inspired , and . Head to to see more.