For six years, the Tsogolo La Thanzi (TLT) study, an NICHD-funded population-based cohort of women and men from Balaka, Malawi aged 15-25 when they were enrolled in 2009, has been following young adults as they navigate relationships, childbearing, and the avoidance of or infection with HIV within the context of a generalized AIDS epidemic. TLT has enrolled over 3000 individuals and collected 10 waves of data, covering a 6-year period (2009-2015) that spans massive changes in the HIV treatment context in Malawi as well as the ages of peak incidence and peak fertility for female respondents. This rich and complex data source contains several innovative features that can be used to advance research in the areas of HIV, fertility, and the life course: a) closely-spaced interviews that allow careful ordering of key events and specification of causal relationships, b) a dyadic approach to relationships, c) an experimental approach to HIV testing and counseling (HTC), and d) biomarker data to confirm incident pregnancies and new HIV infections. Due to the high sampling fraction, circumscribed geographic setting, and extremely detailed data on affiliations, behaviors, and characteristics, these data are sensitive and especially vulnerable to risks of deductive disclosure. The intent of this proposal is to make TLT data accessible to the research community while protecting respondent confidentiality by a) accelerating the cleaning of data for all aspects of this complex study, b) depositing full datasets with the NICHD-supported Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR), c) establishing secure and reasonable protocols for data access, d) developing a comprehensive set of documentation guides to guide new users in leveraging this unique scientific resource to address a variety of questions, and e) building a community of data users in order to share code, problems, and solutions to enhance efficacy in data analysis. Organized around the dual aims of data archiving and documentation (Aim 1) and data promotion (Aim 2), this proposal seeks to enhance the scientific impact of the TLT study and broaden the knowledge-base underpinning research and policy with respect to the intersection of HIV and childbearing in high-prevalence and high-fertility contexts -- conditions that characterize much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Public Health Relevance

This application outlines a plan to release over ten waves of longitudinal data on HIV, fertility, and life-course transitions collected by the Tsologo la Thanzi project (TLT) in Balaka, Malawi over a period of six years (2009-2015). The intent is to make TLT data accessible through the Data Sharing for Demographic Research initiative and to provide clear and careful documentation in order to facilitate the appropriate use of TLT's unique methodological features by new users. Accomplishing the aims of this project will significantly expand the user base and broaden the impact of the NICHD-funded TLT study on research and policy related to HIV, fertility, and transitions to adulthood.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Small Research Grants (R03)
Project #
1R03HD095690-01
Application #
9555127
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHD1)
Program Officer
Bures, Regina M
Project Start
2018-04-01
Project End
2020-03-31
Budget Start
2018-04-01
Budget End
2019-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Chicago
Department
Social Sciences
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
005421136
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60637