Virgin Islands Export Center for Health Disparities

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请旨在开发美国维尔京群岛健康差异研究和教育加勒比出口中心。拟议的中心将开发扩大教育和卫生研究能力所需的资源和基础设施，以支持跨学科项目，减少美属维尔京群岛（圣托马斯、圣克鲁瓦和圣约翰）健康状况不均衡人口的健康状况不均衡。该中心将设在维尔京群岛大学护理系内。维尔京群岛大学是美国大陆以外唯一的HBCU，其学士学位护理课程是该地区唯一准备卫生专业人员的课程。一个非常稀疏的文献表明，美属维尔京群岛的居民有显着的心脏病，糖尿病，艾滋病毒感染，婴儿死亡率和其他健康差距。然而，除了国家报告中的粗略流行率数据外，很少有研究说明可能与报告的流行率有关的因素。美属维尔京群岛的人口高度多样化，非洲裔美国人，非洲加勒比人和西班牙裔占人口的80%。获得保健、缺乏健康保险、教育有限和贫穷可能是促进健康和预防活动的重大障碍，而这些活动最终可以减少我们岛屿内的健康差距。然而，我们将需要提高教师和社区代表进行差异研究的能力，其中包括重点研究，将岛屿历史，背景，文化，访问和其他因素造成岛屿内的这些差异。领导力，能力建设和其他发展活动在此应用程序中所描述的反映了大学和我们的合作伙伴的基本承诺，以提高我们的能力，以解决在美属维尔京群岛的健康差距更有效。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is to develop the Caribbean Export Center for Research and Education in Health Disparities in the Virgin Islands of the United States. The proposed Center will develop resources and the infrastructure needed to expand research capacity in education and health that will support interdisciplinary projects to reduce disparities in health status for health disparity populations in the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John). The Center will be located at the University of the Virgin Islands within the Division of Nursing. The University of the Virgin Islands is the only HBCU outside the continental U.S. Its baccalaureate nursing program is the only program in the territories preparing health professionals. A very sparse literature suggests that residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands have significant rates of heart disease, diabetes, HIV infection, infant mortality and other health disparities. However, beyond sketchy prevalence data incorporated in national reports, few studies have described factors that might be associated with reported prevalence rates. The population of the U.S. Virgin Islands is highly diverse with African American, African Carribean and Hispanics comprising 80% of the population. Access to care, lack of health insurance, limited education and poverty may represent significant barriers to health promotion and prevention activities that could ultimately reduce health disparities within our islands. Yet we will need to increase the capacity of faculty and community representatives to conduct disparity research that includes focused studies that incorporate island history, context, culture, access and other factors contributing to these disparities within the islands. The leadership, capacity building and other developmental activities described in this application reflect the underlying commitment of the University and our collaborating partners to improve our ability to address health disparities in the U.S. Virgin Islands more effectively.