Fostering an AIDS Research and Training Center Infrastructure in Russia

描述（由申请人提供）：前苏联突然解体后，东欧的艾滋病毒流行迅速升级，这是由大规模的文化、社会和经济转型所推动的。吸毒和商业性行为（在该区域曾经不常见）现在很普遍。俄罗斯的艾滋病毒流行病最初与注射吸毒有关，现在正在流行病学上转变为主要通过性传播。为了防止出现大规模的性流行病，必须促进社会和行为科学研究，以指导制定文化上适合该区域的改进的艾滋病毒预防干预措施。以社会科学为基础的预防工作尤为重要，因为俄罗斯的艾滋病毒流行与迅速变化的社会、文化和行为价值观密切相关。该申请建议在俄罗斯彼得堡的Botkin传染病医院建立艾滋病研究和培训跨学科中心（ICART），该中心是俄罗斯西北部最大的医疗艾滋病护理提供者，也是许多艾滋病预防和护理非政府组织的中心枢纽。国际抗逆转录病毒治疗中心将由俄罗斯的一个联合体组成，该联合体由Botkin医院牵头，参与者包括莫斯科州立大学经济系圣彼得堡独立社会学研究中心、圣彼得堡巴斯德研究所、圣彼得堡国立儿科医学院以及一个积极从事社区艾滋病毒/艾滋病预防和护理的非政府组织“医生帮助儿童”。“ICART还将与威斯康星州医学院艾滋病干预研究中心（CAIR）的高级研究人员合作。CAIR是一个自1994年以来由NIMH资助的P30艾滋病毒预防研究中心，它与许多将隶属于ICART的研究人员合作，在该地区进行了成功的艾滋病毒预防研究。国际抗逆转录病毒疗法中心的专题研究使命是：从理论上构想、实施和评价对弱势社区人口实施的艾滋病毒初级预防干预措施;开展与艾滋病毒感染者的需求有关的行为和社会科学研究，包括关于污名化、坚持治疗、艾滋病毒的心理社会应对以及预防艾滋病毒从感染者传染给未感染者的研究;为制定有效的、针对文化的艾滋病毒初级和二级预防干预措施，开展必要的定性和定量基础社会科学研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Eastern Europe's rapidly-escalating HIV epidemic has been driven by widescale cultural, social, and economic transformations following the sudden collapse of the former Soviet Union. Drug use and commercial sex (once uncommon in the region) are now widespread. The HIV epidemic in Russia, first associated with injection drug use, is now undergoing an epidemiological transition to predominantly sexual transmission. To forestall the emergence of a widescale sexual epidemic, it is essential to stimulate social and behavioral science research to guide the development of improved HIV prevention interventions culturally appropriate for the region. Prevention efforts carefully grounded in social sciences is especially critical because Russia's HIV epidemic is so closely intertwined with rapidly-changing social, cultural, and behavioral values. This application proposes to establish the Interdisciplinary Center for AIDS Research and Training (ICART) at Botkin Hospital for Infectious Diseases in St. Petersburg, Russia-the largest medical HIV care provider in northwestern Russia and the central hub for many HIV/AIDS prevention and care NGOs. ICART will consist of a consortium in Russia that is led by Botkin Hospital, and includes participation by the St. Petersburg Center for Independent Sociological Research, Faculty of Economics at Moscow State University, Pasteur Institute in St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State Medical Pediatric Academy, and an NGO active in community HIV/AIDS prevention and care, "Doctors to Children." ICART will also partner with senior investigators at the Center for AIDS Intervention Research (CAIR) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. CAIR, an NIMH-funded P30 HIV prevention research Center since 1994, has undertaken successful HIV prevention studies in the region, collaborating with many of the investigators who will be affiliated with ICART. ICART's thematic research mission will be the theoretical conceptualization, conduct, and evaluation of HIV primary prevention interventions carried out with vulnerable community populations; the conduct of behavioral and social science research related to needs of HIV-infected persons, including research on stigma, treatment adherence, psychosocial coping with HIV, and prevention of HIV transmission from infected to uninfected persons; and qualitative and quantitative basic social science research necessary for the development of effective, culturally-tailored HIV primary and secondary prevention interventions.