1/2-The West Africa-Michigan CHARTER II for GEOHealth-USA

 描述(由申请人提供)：《西非-密歇根州地球健康宪章II》的总体目标是在加纳、西非其他国家和密歇根大学(UM；目前U2R申请的带头人)之间的学术和政府合作机构之间开展长期广泛的职业和环境健康(OEH)研究和培训合作，以可持续地提高世界级科研和研究培训的能力，并为关键的国家和地区职业和环境健康优先事项和政策提供信息。我们将利用财团合作伙伴之间的众多现有优势，包括加纳大学(UG；领衔相关U01申请)、夸梅·恩克鲁马科技大学(Knust)、加纳卫生部/加纳卫生服务机构(MOH/GHS)和UM，以在EOH创建一个充满活力的区域中心。真正的区域战略的一个关键要素是加强西非地区法语国家和英语国家之间的伙伴关系。实现这一目标的途径是与现有的西非法语国家生态健康实践共同体建立战略联系，通过设在贝宁阿波美-卡拉维大学的生态健康教席(布基纳法索、科特迪瓦和S也参与其中，该中心由加拿大国际发展研究中心资助)，以及通过与麦吉尔大学(在双语环境中的北美合作伙伴，在西非有长期的生态健康实践历史)建立联系。此外，我们的项目还将受益于夸祖鲁-纳塔尔大学(UKZN)主要领导的积极投入，他们在与UM的项目领导密切协调、在南部非洲发展共同体建设地区性OEH能力方面拥有丰富的经验。两个紧密联系的U01研究和U2R研究培训赠款的项目管理、持续评估和关键决策将由管理监督委员会(AOC)负责，该委员会的成员将包括来自美国(UM)、加拿大(McGill)、加纳(UG、克努斯特和卫生部/GHS)、贝宁(UAC，也代表COPEH-WCA)和南非(UKZN)的代表。该计划的具体研究活动(主要是暴露评估)侧重于与非正规部门工作活动(主要重点：电子废物；次要重点：小规模金矿开采和与非正规运输相关的环境空气污染)有关的原始环境卫生威胁，该计划有望切实改善与环境卫生有关的研究实践和培训，增加加纳的科学知识和技术能力，同时改进现有的产品、流程和政策，以在整个西非创造更高的有效性、可负担性、可获得性和卓越的可扩展性。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall objective of The West Africa-Michigan CHARTER II for GEOHealth is to build upon long- standing, extensive occupational and environmental health (OEH) research and training collaborations between academic and government partner institutions in Ghana, as well as other countries of West Africa (WA), and the University of Michigan (UM; lead of current U2R application) so as to sustainably enhance capacity for world-class scientific research and research training which address and inform key national and regional occupational and environmental health priorities and policies. We will leverage numerous existing strengths among consortium partners, who include the University of Ghana (UG; lead of linked U01 application, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the Ghanaian Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service (MOH/GHS), and UM to create a dynamic regional hub in EOH. A critical element for a truly regional strategy is to strengthen partnerships across Francophone and Anglophone countries in West Africa region. This is being achieved by strategically linking with the existing West African francophone-based Community of Practice in Eco-Health for West and Central Africa (COPEH-WCA) through their Ecohealth Chair based at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) in Benin (also involved are Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Sénégal), which is funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), as well as through linking with McGill University (North American partner in a bilingual environment with long-standing history of OEH practice in West Africa). In addition, our program will benefit from the active input of key leaders from the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN), who has extensive experience in working in close coordination with the program leadership at UM to build regional OEH capacity in the Southern African Development Community. Project management, ongoing evaluation, and key decision-making for the two closely linked U01 research and U2R research training grant, will reside with the Administrated Oversight Committee (AOC), which will include among its members representatives from the US (UM), Canada (McGill), Ghana (UG, KNUST, and MOH/GHS), Benin (UAC, also representing COPEH-WCA), and South Africa (UKZN). With a specific research activities (mainly exposure assessments) focused on OEH-threats associated with work activities in the informal sector (primary focus: electronic waste; secondary focus: small-scale gold mining and informal transportation-related ambient air pollution), the plan holds great promise of tangibly improving EOH-related research practice and training, and increasing scientific knowledge, and technical ability in Ghana, and, at the same time, improving prevailing products, processes, and policies to create outcomes of improved effectiveness, affordability, accessibility, and superior scalability throughout West Africa.