Lucy Carpenter (Faculty Fellow) was pleased to safely complete in March her 3-year period of absence from College while working with the Medical Research Council’s Programme on AIDS in Uganda. This was particularly so because in September she miraculously survived gunshot wounds to the head in an unexplained car attack in Kampala. She was very grateful to be able to spend November and December in College during which time she was able to make a rapid return to work. This included analysis of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the benefits of a vaccine in preventing invasive pneumococcal disease among HIV-positive Ugandan adults. Unfortunately, this study found the vaccine to be ineffective.

On her return to Uganda in January, she supervised interim analyses of data from a community intervention trial which aims to evaluate different methods for reducing rates of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases among adults in rural Uganda. The intervention method being assessed is a standardized behavioural change programme implemented in study communities either alone or together with improved management of other sexually transmitted diseases. The overall annual rate of new infections of HIV observed so far in the study communities is 0.6% per year. She revisited the MRC Programme in July to take forward plans for the final analyses of this study in which she will be involved next year.