Hayden Farquhar’s review project published in a tropical medicine research journal
Fifth-year School of Medicine student Hayden Farquhar's review of research publications on HIV transmission was published this year in the Annals of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (AACTM).
Farquhar's review focussed on vertical (mother-to-child) transmission of the virus in sub-Saharan Africa, a global hot-spot of HIV transmission where research has a uniquely urgent focus.
The review was produced initially as a student assessment while Farquhar studied by distance for a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University.
After submitting the project, his tutors recommended he develop it as a paper to seek publication.
"It was a wonderful challenge to see if I could complete the whole project by myself," Farquhar said.
Farquhar updated his review for another year by featuring more clinical trial studies from the region as they arose, eventually presenting it as a literature review to the AACTM.
"It was a great learning experience, not only to study vertical HIV transmission factors in depth, but to learn how research papers are built from the ground up."
His review found that clinical antenatal practice in sub-Saharan Africa had benefited from the last decade's research into the topic, with crucial findings such as the influence of multi-drug therapy as an intervention to the transmission reducing child HIV infection rates.