Intersectoral Fellowships on Irrigated Agriculture and Human Health in Malawi

描述（由申请人提供）：马拉维灌溉、农业生产和健康能力建设跨部门奖学金计划旨在为12名博士后研究员（4名来自美国，8名来自马拉维）提供多学科研究培训，强调农业、农业（灌溉）水资源开发和利用以及疟疾之间的密切互动该计划将重点关注 通过绿色带倡议（GBI），马拉维的灌溉和农业发展的大规模工程，促进了土地和水资源的改造进程。目标是通过减少对降雨的依赖来提高农业生产力，并将更多的土地用于生产，改善农村经济。我们的目标是减轻GBI对健康的不利影响。我们认为GBI是非洲其他大型项目的代表。该项目利用马拉维的环境作为研究和培训实验室。大规模的、以水为基础的农业发展很少包括同时和平行发展所需的专门知识和基础设施，以减少和尽量减少伴随的传染病风险。研究和培训活动将集中在对GBI所产生的转型的生态和社会层面进行实证和建模分析：地表水扩大造成的疾病风险、其对蚊媒种群的影响以及随后的疟疾传播和流行，以及如何通过干预措施来减少这些风险，这些干预措施既能阻止疟疾传播，又能维持农业生产目标和期望，经济效益密歇根州立大学、密歇根大学和马拉维大学之间以及密歇根大学和利隆圭农业和自然资源大学之间的长期合作将提供培训背景。国际疟疾研究卓越中心（ICEMR）是由NIAID资助的MSU - U-M -马拉维大学财团，将作为研究的中心，正在进行的疟疾传播和粮食安全研究也将如此。该合作将涉及一个多学科的教师小组，该小组具有以下方面的专门知识：（1）土地改造和土地利用变化过程中的疟疾生态学和流行病学;（2）灌溉系统，土地改造和农业生产;（3）治理，政策和实施;（4）生态系统服务和完整性。这种合作将使经验丰富的科学家和精心挑选的博士后研究员参与协调的研究，实施，奖学金和咨询。最终结果将是培养一支训练有素的专业人员队伍，准备支持农业发展，同时预防与疟疾有关的发病率和死亡率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Intersectoral Fellowships to Build Capacity on Irrigation, Agricultural Production, and Health in Malawi program aims to provide multi-disciplinary research training for twelve post-doctoral fellows (four from the United States and eight from Malawi), emphasizing the strong interaction of agriculture, water resource development and utilization for agriculture (irrigation), and malaria The program will focus on the process of land and water transformation via the Green Belt Initiative (GBI), a massive undertaking involving irrigation and agriculture development in Malawi. The goal is to increase agricultural productivity by reducing dependency on rainfall and bring more hectarage into production, improving the rural economy. Our goal is to mitigate the adverse health impacts of the GBI. We view the GBI as representative of other large-scale programs occurring across Africa. This project utilizes the Malawi setting as a research and training laboratory. Rarely is i the case that large scale, water-based agricultural development includes simultaneous and parallel development of the expertise and infrastructure required to obviate and minimize the concomitant infectious disease risks. Research and training activities will center on empirical and modeling analyses of the ecological and social dimensions of the transformation which will result from the GBI: the disease risks created by expansion of surface water, its effects on mosquito vector populations and subsequent malaria transmission and prevalence, and how these risks can be diminished through interventions that stanch malaria transmission yet maintain the agricultural production goals and desired economic benefits. The long-standing collaborations between Michigan State University (MSU), University of Michigan (U-M), and University of Malawi and between MSU and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) will provide the training context. The International Center for Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR), a MSU - U-M - University of Malawi consortium funded by NIAID, will serve as a locus for the research, as will ongoing studies of malaria transmission and food security. The collaboration will engage a multi-disciplinary group of faculty with particular expertise in (1) ecology and epidemiology of malaria within the land transformation and land use change process; (2) irrigation systems, land transformation, and agricultural production; (3) governance, policy, and implementation; and (4) ecosystem services and integrity. This collaboration will engage experienced scientists and carefully chosen postdoctoral fellows in coordinated research, implementation, scholarship, and consultation. The end results will be a cadre of trained professionals prepared to support agricultural development while, at the same time, preventing malaria-associated morbidity and mortality.