INTERNATIONAL CORE

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We are proposing to develop an International Core within the UNC CFAR (Core I), designed to support research, training, technology transfer and broad ethical considerations at sites in four countries which have been extensively involved with the UNC CFAR for many years: Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Africa and the Peoples Republic of China. The addition of an International Core is an essential amplification of ongoing activities. Specific technical assistance/capacity building services, to be coordinated with other CFAR Cores, include assistance with: laboratory infrastructure; clinical database development; data analysis for article publication; grant writing, including intensive one-on-one tutorials for young investigators in CFAR collaborations; coordinating IRB approvals, consent form writing, navigating NIH regulations, and responding to questions about human subjects protections; and planning and coordinating international workshops. Core I will enhance coordination of information about ongoing international collaborations and the availability of training programs, and work to develop new collaborations/through the following services: maintain interactive information database about CFAR international research; assist UNC Fogarty AITRP and other training programs to identify international scholars for potential training; and assist community advisory boards in key collaborating countries to identify topics critical to the local community, and to disseminate research results through yearly in-country meetings. By directing world attention to underlying social and economic inequalities, the AIDS epidemic has also re-defined important aspects of the ethical conduct of research. For this reason, it is doubly important for the CFAR to address the moral as well as practical challenges that are often raised in international HIV/AIDS research. Bringing together resources at UNC and the CFAR partners, FHI and RTI, Core I will develop the CFAR Ethics Resource Service, with the following objectives: ensure that broader ethical issues are part of the ongoing discussion of international HIV/AIDS research, including offering training activities for UNC researchers; disseminate information, experience, and expertise in ethics so that CFAR researchers are aware of current conceptualizations and recommendations in these domains; respond to ethics and IRB questions from CFAR researchers and collaborators; assess ethics capacity building activities as defined by our collaborating researchers and institutions in Malawi, the DRC, South Africa, and China; and further develop and support an International Ethics Working Group which will foster both research and training activities at UNC and in partner countries.