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Norma Ware, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Part-time, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, part-time, Harvard Medical School

Norma C. Ware is a medical anthropologist and associate professor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ware conducts research on social and behavioral dimensions of HIV treatment and prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. She is particularly interested in the use of qualitative research on user experiences to explain the dynamics of interventions to improve delivery of health care. Current research topics include: (1) a mobile outreach approach to delivering health services to Lake Victoria fishing communities in western Kenya; (2) evaluation of community-based HIV testing and ART delivery in South Africa and Uganda; (3) use of HIV self-testing and PrEP to facilitate linkage to HIV treatment and prevention services for male partners of HIV-infected pregnant women in Uganda; (4) qualitative evaluation of integrated delivery of PrEP and ART to HIV serodiscordant couples in Ugandan public health clinics; and (5) influences on uptake and adherence to periconception PrEP to reduce HIV risk in S. African women. In carrying out her research, Dr. Ware partners with the Center for Global Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; the International Clinical Research Center at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA; the Infectious Diseases Institute of Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda; Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya; and the Lake Victoria Consortium for Health Research, Entebbe, Uganda. Dr. Ware teaches at Harvard Medical School and collaborates widely with colleagues interested in the application of qualitative methods to research on health. She also mentors junior investigators.

Affiliations:
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Assistant:
Emily Pisarski

Dr. Ware conducts research on the delivery of HIV prevention and treatment services in sub-Saharan Africa. This research evaluates interventions aimed at improving service delivery, by examining intervention implementation processes. Current and recent projects focus on: (1) understanding implementation of real-time, point-of-care viral load testing by Ugandan public health care providers as an antiretroviral medication adherence intervention for pregnant women living with HIV; (2) explaining how Ugandan pregnant women living with HIV deliver and use HIV self-testing kits intended to promote testing among their male partners of unknown HIV status; (3) examining how Ugandan HIV care providers adapted a novel program of integrated HIV prevention and treatment services to promote feasibility and acceptability; and (4) investigating the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on continuing access to HIV care in Uganda.

Testing experiences of HIV positive refugees in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda: informing interventions to encourage priority shifting.
Authors: Authors: O'Laughlin KN, Rouhani SA, Faustin ZM, Ware NC.
Confl Health
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Reproductive decision-making and periconception practices among HIV-positive men and women attending HIV services in Durban, South Africa.
Authors: Authors: Matthews LT, Crankshaw T, Giddy J, Kaida A, Smit JA, Ware NC, Bangsberg DR.
AIDS Behav
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Thriving, Managing, and Struggling: A Mixed Methods Study of Adolescent African Refugees' Psychosocial Adjustment.
Authors: Authors: Weine SM, Ware N, Tugenberg T, Hakizimana L, Dahnweih G, Currie M, Wagner M, Levin E.
Adolesc Psychiatry (Hilversum)
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Socio-cultural and economic antecedents of adolescent sexual decision-making and HIV-risk in rural Uganda.
Authors: Authors: Katz IT, Ybarra ML, Wyatt MA, Kiwanuka JP, Bangsberg DR, Ware NC.
AIDS Care
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Toward an understanding of disengagement from HIV treatment and care in sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative study.
Authors: Authors: Ware NC, Wyatt MA, Geng EH, Kaaya SF, Agbaji OO, Muyindike WR, Chalamilla G, Agaba PA.
PLoS Med
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Adherence to antiretroviral prophylaxis for HIV prevention: a substudy cohort within a clinical trial of serodiscordant couples in East Africa.
Authors: Authors: Haberer JE, Baeten JM, Campbell J, Wangisi J, Katabira E, Ronald A, Tumwesigye E, Psaros C, Safren SA, Ware NC, Thomas KK, Donnell D, Krows M, Kidoguchi L, Celum C, Bangsberg DR.
PLoS Med
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A conceptual framework for understanding HIV risk behavior in the context of supporting fertility goals among HIV-serodiscordant couples.
Authors: Authors: Crankshaw TL, Matthews LT, Giddy J, Kaida A, Ware NC, Smit JA, Bangsberg DR.
Reprod Health Matters
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How treatment partners help: social analysis of an African adherence support intervention.
Authors: Authors: O'Laughlin KN, Wyatt MA, Kaaya S, Bangsberg DR, Ware NC.
AIDS Behav
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High acceptability for cell phone text messages to improve communication of laboratory results with HIV-infected patients in rural Uganda: a cross-sectional survey study.
Authors: Authors: Siedner MJ, Haberer JE, Bwana MB, Ware NC, Bangsberg DR.
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak
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What's love got to do with it? Explaining adherence to oral antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV-serodiscordant couples.
Authors: Authors: Ware NC, Wyatt MA, Haberer JE, Baeten JM, Kintu A, Psaros C, Safren S, Tumwesigye E, Celum CL, Bangsberg DR.
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
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