Fostering an AIDS Research and Training Center Infrastructure in Russia

描述(申请人提供)：前苏联突然解体后，大规模的文化、社会和经济变革推动了东欧艾滋病毒疫情的迅速升级。吸毒和商业性行为(曾经在该地区很少见)现在很普遍。俄罗斯的艾滋病毒流行最初与注射吸毒有关，现在正在经历以性传播为主的流行病学转变。为了防止大规模性流行病的出现，必须鼓励社会和行为科学研究，以指导制定符合该地区文化的改进的艾滋病毒预防干预措施。精心建立在社会科学基础上的预防工作尤其重要，因为俄罗斯的艾滋病毒疫情与迅速变化的社会、文化和行为价值观密切相关。这项申请建议在俄罗斯圣彼得堡的博特金传染病医院建立艾滋病跨学科研究和培训中心(ICART)-俄罗斯西北部最大的医疗艾滋病毒护理提供者，也是许多艾滋病毒/艾滋病预防和护理非政府组织的中心枢纽。Icart将由俄罗斯的一个财团组成，该财团由博特金医院领导，成员包括圣彼得堡独立社会学研究中心、莫斯科国立大学经济学院、圣彼得堡巴斯德研究所、圣彼得堡国立医学儿科学院以及活跃在社区艾滋病毒/艾滋病预防和护理领域的非政府组织“医生到儿童”。ICART还将与威斯康星医学院艾滋病干预研究中心(CAIR)的高级调查人员合作。CAIR是1994年以来由NIMH资助的P30艾滋病毒预防研究中心，与许多将隶属于ICART的调查人员合作，在该地区开展了成功的艾滋病毒预防研究。ICART的专题研究任务将是对针对弱势社区人口进行的艾滋病毒一级预防干预措施的理论构思、实施和评估；开展与艾滋病毒感染者需求有关的行为和社会科学研究，包括关于污名、治疗依从性、应对艾滋病毒的心理社会应对以及防止艾滋病毒从感染者向未感染者传播的研究；以及制定有效的、针对文化的艾滋病毒一级和二级预防措施所需的定性和定量的基础社会科学研究。

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.