MENA Think Tank Stigma and HIV Prevention

描述（由申请人提供）：纽约州精神病学研究所和哥伦比亚大学艾滋病毒临床和行为研究中心与摩洛哥卫生部国家卫生研究所和加州大学洛杉矶分校全球卫生方案合作，提议开展一个针对中东/北非（MENA）的艾滋病毒/艾滋病耻辱和艾滋病毒预防的智库。本次研讨会将邀请来自中东和北非地区和美国的行为、社会和生物医学领域的专家参加；会议将委托编写并审查一系列关于耻辱对艾滋病毒/艾滋病脆弱性的区域影响的手稿。该系列手稿的最终版本将与智库提出的主要建议一起发表在同行评议的期刊上。在中东和北非，艾滋病毒/艾滋病的耻辱和歧视被广泛认为是预防和护理的关键障碍，促进了艾滋病毒的传播并阻碍了监测工作。在该区域内，艾滋病毒和性传播感染与不道德行为以及阿拉伯和伊斯兰文化所禁止的行为有关，公共卫生官员和提供者将耻辱描述为对艾滋病毒预防的持续挑战。尽管对艾滋病毒/艾滋病耻辱的重要性达成共识，但对该地区旨在减少耻辱的现有计划和战略知之甚少。关于艾滋病毒/艾滋病耻辱的科学表征和测量，人们所知的就更少了；很多可用的资料都是模糊的、推测性的，而且往往局限于对其后果的观察性描述。艾滋病毒/艾滋病污名化的区域驱动因素阻碍了中东和北非地区大量人口保护自己或获得护理，对其特征的描述具有近期和长期的科学和公共卫生意义。我们将召集中东和北非地区耻辱感和艾滋病毒预防智库(1)定义和描述导致中东和北非地区特定艾滋病毒/艾滋病耻辱感的个人、文化和结构性因素；(2)在中东和北非建立衡量和监测艾滋病毒/艾滋病污名的分析框架；(3)撰写一系列重点稿件，作为相关同行评议期刊的特刊共同发表；(4)制定和传播针对中东和北非地区的艾滋病毒/艾滋病污名研究议程；(5)建立研究伙伴关系，从而产生具体的研究建议和项目，这些研究建议和项目将在会议上提出。拟议中的智库将产生具体的成果——在同行评议的期刊上发表文章、形成中东和北非关于艾滋病毒/艾滋病的网络，以及具体的合作研究项目和建议——这将建立持久的伙伴关系，为该领域作出科学和规划方面的贡献。我们正在具体构建拟议的智库，以形成更强大的区域合作，以开展与中东和北非地区艾滋病毒耻辱相关的具体研究项目，并为支持此类工作提供资金。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, in collaboration with the National Institute of Hygiene of the Moroccan Ministry of Health and the UCLA Program in Global Health, propose to conduct a Middle East/North Africa (MENA)-specific Think Tank on HIV/AIDS stigma and HIV prevention. This workshop will engage experts in the behavioral, social, and biomedical sciences from throughout the MENA region and the US; a series of manuscripts addressing the regional impact of stigma on HIV/AIDS vulnerability will be commissioned and reviewed at the meeting. Final versions of the manuscript series will be published in a peer-reviewed journal along with the major recommendations emanating from the Think Tank. HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination in the Middle East and North Africa are widely cited as critical barriers to prevention and care, facilitating HIV transmission and impeding surveillance efforts. Within the region, where HIV and STIs are associated with immorality and behaviors prohibited by Arab and Islamic culture, public health officials and providers describe stigma as an ongoing challenge to HIV prevention. Despite consensus on the importance of HIV/AIDS stigma, little is known about existing programs and strategies that target stigma reduction in the region. Even less is known regarding the scientific characterization and measurement of HIV/AIDS stigma; much of what is available is vague, speculative, and often limited to observational accounts of its consequences. Characterization of regional drivers of HIV/AIDS stigma, which prevents large MENA populations from protecting themselves or accessing care, has both immediate and long-term scientific and public health significance. We will convene the MENA Think Tank on Stigma and HIV Prevention to (1) define and characterize individual, cultural, and structural factors giving rise to MENA region-specific HIV/AIDS stigma; (2) develop an analytical framework for measurement and surveillance of HIV/AIDS stigma in the Middle East and North Africa; (3) produce a focused series of manuscripts to be published collectively as a Special Issue of a relevant peer-reviewed journal; (4) develop and disseminate a MENA region-specific HIV/AIDS stigma research agenda; and (5) create research partnerships that result in concrete research proposals and projects following on the research agenda to be articulated at the conference. The proposed Think Tank will have concrete outcomes - publications in peer-reviewed journals, formation of a MENA network on HIV/AIDS, and specific collaborative research projects and proposals - that will build lasting partnerships to make scientific and programmatic contributions to the field. We are specifically structuring the proposed Think Tank to result in the formation of stronger regional collaborations to pursue specific research projects related to HIV stigma in the MENA region, as well as the funding to support such work.