Agricultural Livelihoods, Food Security, and Women's Risk of HIV Infection

描述（由申请人提供）：K01指导研究科学家发展奖将为候选人提供高级培训，使其成为专注于将流行病学，行为科学和经济发展联系起来的艾滋病毒预防策略的独立研究者。研究者的长期目标是开发、实施和评估创新的多学科干预措施，以减少发展中国家妇女和女孩的艾滋病毒感染发生率。拟议的工作范围包括培训和研究部分，利用加州大学伯克利分校丰富的跨学科研究环境以及候选人咨询委员会的机构。培训部分构成了该提案的基础，包括两名高级导师，一组具有互补专业知识的顾问，教学教育，技能发展和指导研究，以便在完成该奖项后，候选人将为独立的研究生涯做好准备。培训计划与指导研究计划并行制定，以便在获得新的教育和技能时，可以立即将其应用于研究计划的相关方面。在该奖项的培训过程中，将实现四个培训目标：(1)获得负责任的研究、经济学和国际发展政策方面的教育；（二）掌握农业和资源经济学、干预措施开发、实验性流行病学研究的实施和分析等方面的实用技能；(3)完成一项指导研究计划，设计和试点艾滋病毒预防干预措施；(4)通过建立出版记录，在主题专家的指导下，为未来的提案生成试点数据，成为一名独立的研究者。研究部分的目标是研究经济环境如何影响坦桑尼亚农村妇女感染艾滋病毒的脆弱性，并试点一项干预措施，在经济上赋予妇女农民权力，减少艾滋病毒感染。促进妇女经济赋权日益被视为撒哈拉以南非洲预防艾滋病毒的一种有希望的方法，因为缺乏获得和控制经济资源的机会加剧了对艾滋病毒感染的易感性。这项建议采取了一种创新的方法来预防艾滋病毒，把重点放在农业上，而农业与发展中国家的贫困和粮食安全有着千丝万缕的联系。然而，很少有干预措施系统地将农业生计、粮食安全和艾滋病毒预防结合起来。该研究的目的是：(1)调查以可持续农业为基础的生计干预措施的潜力，以降低坦桑尼亚女性农民感染艾滋病毒的风险；(2)确定坦桑尼亚家庭收入、粮食不安全和土地所有权对女性户主农户性风险的影响；(3)为坦桑尼亚女农民开展一项以可持续农业为基础的生计干预试点研究，以改善家庭收入和粮食安全，并减少性风险。这项研究将提供定量和定性的证据，以确定未来的试验是否值得进行干预。显然需要关于经济不安全对艾滋病毒易感性的影响的经验证据。此外，必须制定多部门的预防对策，以解决非洲妇女所面临的交织在一起的经济、社会和背景风险。这一建议旨在满足这两种需要，其结果将对今后应对艾滋病毒流行病产生重要影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award will provide advanced training for the candidate to become an independent investigator focusing on HIV prevention strategies that link epidemiology, behavioral science, and economic development. The long-term goal of the investigator is to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative and multidisciplinary interventions to reduce the incidence of HIV infection among women and girls in the developing world. The proposed scope of work includes both training and research components that capitalize on the rich interdisciplinary research environment at the University of California, Berkeley as well as the institutions of the candidate's advisory committee. The training component forms the foundation of the proposal and includes two senior mentors, a panel of advisors with complementary expertise, didactic education, skill development, and mentored research such that at the completion of the award the candidate will be well-positioned for an independent research career. The training plan has been developed in parallel with the mentored research plan such that when new education and skills are obtained they can be immediately applied to the relevant aspects of the research program. Four training objectives will be accomplished during the course of this award: (1) obtain education in the responsible conduct of research, economics, and international development policy; (2) obtain practical skills in agricultural and resource economics, intervention development, and the conduct and analysis of experimental epidemiological studies; (3) complete a mentored research program to design and pilot an HIV prevention intervention; and (4) become an independent investigator through building the publication record, mentoring by subject matter experts, and generating pilot data for a future proposal. The goal of the research component is to examine how the economic context shapes women's vulnerability to HIV infection in rural Tanzania and to pilot an intervention to economically empower women farmers and reduce HIV infection. The promotion of women's economic empowerment is increasingly viewed as a promising approach to HIV prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa as the lack of access to and control over economic resources heightens susceptibility to HIV infection. This proposal takes an innovative approach to HIV prevention by focusing on agriculture, which is inextricably linked to poverty and food security in the developing world. However, few interventions have systematically integrated agricultural livelihoods, food security, and HIV prevention. The research aims are to: (1) investigate the potential for a sustainable agriculture-based livelihood intervention to reduce the risk of HIV infection among women farmers in Tanzania; (2) determine the effect of household income, food insecurity, and land ownership on sexual risk-taking among female-headed farming households in Tanzania; and (3) conduct a pilot study of a sustainable agriculture- based livelihood intervention for women farmers in Tanzania to improve household income and food security and reduce sexual risk-taking. This study will provide quantitative and qualitative evidence to determine whether a future trial is merited for the intervention. There is a clear need for empirical evidence about the effects of economic insecurity on HIV vulnerability. In addition, the development of multi-sectoral responses to prevention that can address the entwined economic, social, and contextual risks with which African women contend is imperative. This proposal has been designed to address both of these needs and the results will have important implications for future responses to the HIV pandemic.