A GEOHealth Hub for Agriculture and Informal Work in Nicaragua: - USA

描述（由申请人提供）：尼加拉瓜是西半球第二贫穷的国家，67%的劳动力从事非正规经济，包括自营职业者（不包括专业人员和技术人员）、雇员人数少于5人的工作场所、在家或在小企业工作的无薪家庭成员，以及在正规部门只从事零星工作的工人，他们没有重新就业的合法权利，也无法获得社会保障和养老金等社会福利。三分之一的劳动力从事农业，80%的劳动力符合非正规就业的定义。农业和非正规部门的工人面临严重的职业和环境、健康危害，目前的结构不足以查明、监测和应对这些问题。尼加拉瓜国立自治大学莱昂分校（UNAN-Leon）的健康、工作和环境研究中心（csta）和波士顿大学公共卫生学院（BUSPH）提议合作建立一个机构（学术、政府和其他机构）网络，能够开展研究和培训，为公共政策提供信息，以解决农业和非正规经济工人面临的职业和环境风险，并在更广泛的范围内，农村居民。这个网络被称为全球环境和职业健康中心（GEOHealth Hub），将以尼加拉瓜为中心，但也将包括来自整个中美洲以及美国和其他高收入国家的合作伙伴。这项为期两年的赠款的目标是为地球健康中心制定一项可行和可持续的计划，获得合作伙伴的承诺，并建立一个能够立即开展某些活动并为较大项目获得资金的结构。我们将通过进行需求和机会评估来实现这一目标；在规划过程中确定合作伙伴并使其参与；确定重点研究领域，明确假设，设计研究计划，收集初步数据；确定潜在的资金来源；评估合作伙伴的培训需求，以建立能力；并为UNAN-Leon的博士课程的发展提供投入，以增加职业和环境卫生方面训练有素的调查人员的人数。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 67% percent of its workforce engaged in the informal economy, consisting of the self-employed (excluding professionals and technicians), workplaces with <5 employees, unpaid family members who work at home or at small enterprises, and workers who are hired for only sporadic work in the formal sector, with no legal right to be rehired and no access to social benefits, such as social security and pensions. One-third of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, with >80% meeting the definition of informal employment. Workers in agriculture and the informal sector face serious occupational and environmental, health hazards, and the structures currently in place are inadequate to identify, monitor, and respond to these problems. The Center for Research on Health, Work and Environment (CISTA) at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua at Leon (UNAN-Leon) and the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) propose to partner to build a network of institutions (academic, governmental, and other) capable of carrying out a research and training that will inform public policy to address occupational and environmental risks faced by workers in agriculture and the informal economy and, more broadly, by rural residents. This network, called a Global Environmental and Occupational Health Hub (GEOHealth Hub), will be centered in Nicaragua, but will also include partners from throughout Central America, as well as the U.S. and other high income countries. The goal of this two-year grant is to develop a viable and sustainable plan for the GEOHealth Hub, obtain commitments from partners, and put a structure in place that can conduct some activities immediately and also obtain funding for larger projects. We will meet this goal by conducting a needs and opportunity assessment; identifying and engaging partners in the planning process; identifying phority areas of research, specifying hypotheses, designing a research plan, and collecting preliminary data; identifying potential funding sources; assessing training needs of partners to build capacity; and providing input into the development of a PhD program at UNAN-Leon to increase the number of highly trained investigators in occupational and environmental health. RELEVANCE TO HUMAN HEALTH (provided by applicant): Residents of Nicaragua who work in agriculture and the informal sector face many occupational and environmental health hazards, and resources to address these problems are currently very limited. This grant will allow a U.S. and Nicaraguan university to jointly lay the groundwork for building an integrated network of Nicaraguan institutions that will be able to provide training and conduct research to improve the health of the nation's citizens.