Social and Behavioral HIV Research Capacity Building in Uganda

描述（由申请人提供）：乌干达目前面临的挑战，需要有效和可持续的方案，提供艾滋病毒护理和预防纳入抗逆转录病毒治疗规模的扩大，揭示了社会和行为研究的多学科专业知识的需要。大多数艾滋病毒研究在乌干达进行，并在马凯雷雷大学的研究人员一直是生物医学的重点，和大学教师的社会和行为艾滋病毒研究经验的大部分已经与大型结构化调查的定量分析，并与解决形成，过程和艾滋病毒相关的行为干预措施的结果评价较少。拟议的项目将开始填补这一空白，通过乌干达马凯雷雷大学、美国兰德公司和乌干达护理提供者组织之间的伙伴关系，发展马凯雷雷调查人员进行社会和行为研究的能力，以应对这些挑战。该项目将开展三项试点研究，为建设这一研究能力和为当地社区面临的预防和治疗挑战提供务实、创新的解决方案提供培训基础：（1）制定和试点一项方案，以激活艾滋病毒客户作为预防代理人;（2）检查各种抗逆转录病毒疗法推广模式的护理质量、业务效率和成本;（3）评估ART对社会、经济和风险行为结果的影响。该项目的目标是提供培训，研究经验和结构性支持，以定位目标Makerere研究人员，成功地竞争独立的艾滋病毒研究资金，并成为该地区公认的艾滋病毒行为和社会科学的关键贡献者。这种对社会，行为和健康系统研究的关注也使Makerere能够利用其与兰德公司的合作伙伴关系，兰德公司以其在医疗保健系统开发和评估方面的专业知识以及社会和行为科学的多学科方法而闻名。此外，兰德公司的多学科卫生科学家名册在乌干达建设各种研究技能的能力和应对艾滋病毒护理的复杂和多方面挑战方面提供了额外的优势。公共卫生方面的好处包括提高乌干达科学家进行创新、多学科社会和行为研究的能力，以应对乌干达人面临的艾滋病毒/艾滋病挑战。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The current challenges facing Uganda with regard to the need for effective and sustainable programs for delivering HIV care and integrating prevention into ART scale-up, reveal the need for multidisciplinary expertise in social and behavioral research. Most of the HIV research conducted in Uganda and by investigators at Makerere University has been biomedical in focus, and much of the social and behavioral HIV research experience of the University faculty has been with quantitative analysis of large structured surveys, and less with addressing formative, process, and outcome evaluations of HIV-related behavioral interventions. The proposed project will begin to fill this void through a partnership between Makerere University in Uganda, RAND in the United States, and care provider organizations in Uganda that will develop the capacity of Makerere investigators to conduct social and behavioral research that will address these challenges. The project will implement three pilot studies that will provide a training ground for building this research capacity and pragmatic, innovative solutions to prevention and treatment challenges facing the local community: (1) Develop and pilot a program to activate HIV clients as agents of prevention; (2) Examine quality of care, operational efficiency and cost across various models of ART scale-up; (3) Evaluate the impact of ART on social, economic and risk behavior outcomes. The goal of the project is to provide the training, research experience, and structural support to position the targeted Makerere investigators to compete successfully for independent HIV research funding and become recognized in the region as key contributors to HIV behavioral and social science. This focus on social, behavioral and health systems research also enables Makerere to capitalize on its partnership with RAND, which is known for its expertise in the development and evaluation of health care systems, and multidisciplinary approach to social and behavioral science. Furthermore, RAND's multidisciplinary roster of health scientists offers additional advantages with regard to building capacity for a wide array of research skills and tackling the complex and multi-faceted challenges of HIV care in Uganda. The public health benefits include the improved ability of Ugandan scientists to conduct innovative, multi-disciplinary social and behavioral research to address the HIV/AIDS challenges facing Ugandans.