ALPHA Network

The ALPHA network aims to maximise the usefulness of data generated in community-based longitudinal HIV studies in sub-Saharan Africa for national and international agencies involved in designing or monitoring interventions and epidemiological forecasting.

The project links several existing HIV cohort studies and runs training workshops to facilitate replication of analyses of demographic correlates and consequences of HIV infection previously published in just one or two sites. Comparative studies and meta-analyses are undertaken on comparable data sets, imposing a common format on data collected and stored in a variety of ways.

The network is coordinated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Its members are:

• Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, South Africa
• Karonga Prevention Study , Malawi
• Kisesa Cohort Study, NIMR, Tanzania
• Masaka District Cohort Study, MRC-UVRI , Uganda
• Manicaland Panel Study, IC-BRTI, Zimbabwe
• Rakai Health Sciences Program, Uganda

Further community-based cohort studies may be invited to join the network to develop their expertise in longitudinal analysis techniques. Funding for the activities of the network for 2005-2009 was awarded by The Wellcome Trust

The specific studies undertaken are described in detail under the workshops heading in the side menu. They are:

1. Age patterns of HIV incidence, life time risk of infection
2. Impact of HIV on evolution of family structure
3. "Net" mortality from HIV and survival post infection
4. Sexual behaviour and marriage
5. Uptake of Voluntary Counselling and Testing and Anti-Retroviral Therapy for HIV

Each workshop page also contains links to the open-access publications resulting from the workshop.

An important subsidiary aim of the network is building capacity in analytical, statistical and presentational skills at all the collaborating studies.

Five ALPHA workshops have been held. Each one incorporated teaching / demonstration sessions that launched analyses on one topic, led by scientists from the site that had made most progress to date with work on that topic. The resulting site-specific and comparative cross-site analyses are published in special open-source journal issues. Collaborative work from the network sites has been presented at international conferences, including the International AIDS Society in Mexico 2008, and the International Union for Scientific Study of Population in Marrakesh 2009.

For further information contact information.alpha@lshtm.ac.uk