Posted: 3/3/2009
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) assistant professor Jason Farley, PhD, MPH, CRNP, is a recipient of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health Faculty Grant. The $50,000 award allows a researcher to pursue individual health studies around the world.
Farley, an expert in the epidemiology, prevention, and management of drug-resistant infections and international infection control, noted, “This award allows me to begin the exploration of barriers to TB infection control practices in high-risk, low-resource settings. Nurses and other health care workers in under-resourced settings often have double the prevalence of TB compared with the general population and infection control can help prevent infection and/or repeated exposure to increasing drug-resistant strains.”
Farley’s research project aims to assess infection control knowledge, attitudes, practices, and environmental infrastructure among multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extremely drug-resistant (XDR) TB centers in South Africa. He and his team of researchers will investigate whether employers offer HIV testing to health care workers prior to employment in such high risk settings. They will also observe and inspect the infection control infrastructure, including ventilation systems and the collection of respiratory samples.
Farley will travel to South Africa multiple times throughout the next year, and each trip will range between two and three weeks. During the beginning of his research, he will collaborate with two JHUSON graduate students (one MSN/MPH and one PhD). He will partner with the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC) and the Tuberculosis Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit.