Social and Behavioral HIV Research Capacity Building in Uganda

描述(由申请者提供)：乌干达目前面临的挑战是，需要有效和可持续的方案来提供艾滋病毒护理，并将预防纳入抗逆转录病毒治疗的推广工作，这表明需要社会和行为研究方面的多学科专业知识。在乌干达和Makerere大学进行的大多数艾滋病毒研究都是以生物医学为重点的，大学教职员工的大部分社会和行为艾滋病毒研究经验是对大型结构化调查的量化分析，较少涉及艾滋病毒相关行为干预措施的形成、过程和结果评估。拟议中的项目将通过乌干达的Makerere大学、美国的兰德和乌干达的护理提供者组织之间的合作来开始填补这一空白，这些组织将发展Makerere调查人员进行社会和行为研究的能力，以应对这些挑战。该项目将实施三项试验性研究，为建设这一研究能力和针对当地社区面临的预防和治疗挑战的务实创新解决方案提供培训基础：(1)开发和试点一项计划，以激活艾滋病毒客户作为预防媒介；(2)检查各种ART扩大模式的护理质量、运作效率和成本；(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、研究经验和结构支持，使目标Makerere调查人员能够成功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而闻名，以及对社会和行为科学的多学科方法。此外，兰德的多学科卫生科学家名册在建设各种研究技能的能力和应对乌干达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乌干达科学家提高了进行创新、多学科的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.