The Role of Development Assistance for Health in Reducing Child Mortality

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的五年培训和研究计划项目将使已经在全球卫生筹资方面取得成就的初级学者掌握人口学和人口研究的理论、方法和技术，并通过在卢旺达进行的跨国比较研究和国别个案研究，探索将经济和人口方法结合起来，研究卫生发展援助在降低儿童死亡率方面的作用。拟议的职业发展计划确定了四个培训目标：(1)发展有关儿童死亡率计量的人口学和人口科学方面的专门知识以及关于儿童死亡率变化原因的理论和模型；(2)获取流行病学背景知识，了解发展中国家不同年龄段5岁以下儿童的疾病概况；（三）提高时间序列和多层次研究的统计技能；(4)获得科研伦理方面的培训，培养论文写作的概念和技能。这四个目标将通过以下四个发展活动来实现：(1)人口学和人口研究、流行病学、统计方法和研究伦理方面的课程作业和指导阅读；(2)人口统计学（Kenneth Hill和Samuel Preston）、流行病学（Megan Murray）、卫生政策（Agnes Binagwaho）和卫生经济学（Peter Smith）领域的顶尖专家的指导；（三）参加人口研究与卫生方面的讲习班、研讨会和学术会议，并提出研究成果；(4)制定一项赠款，以支持一个关于卫生保健筹资和人口健康结果的独立研究项目。研究有三个具体目标：(1)通过人口与健康调查，对64个国家的新生儿、婴儿和儿童死亡率水平的年度差异进行时间序列国别估计，并生成1996年至2011年总体DAH、儿童健康DAH和传染病DAH项目的完整时间序列国别支付数据集；(2)系统评估1996年至2011年64个DHS国家儿童死亡率的总体DAH、DAH对儿童健康的影响以及DAH对抗击传染病的影响；(3)通过使用“国家平台方法”增加儿童保健服务，了解卢旺达儿童健康发展在改善儿童健康和降低儿童死亡率方面的作用。K-01奖项将为我提供人口学和人口研究以及流行病学和定性方法方面的强大指导和专业培训，这将使我能够实现我的长期职业目标，即通过跨学科的方法为设计医疗融资策略提供严格的科学证据，从而有效改善弱势群体的健康状况。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed five-year project of training and research plans will enable a junior scholar already accomplished in global health financing to master theories, methodologies, and techniques in demography and population studies and explore the integration of economic and demographic methods for studying the role of Development Assistance for Health (DAH) in reducing child mortality through a cross-country comparative study and a country case-study in Rwanda. The proposed career development plan sets four training goals: (1) to develop expertise in demography and population science concerning the measurement of child mortality and theories and models on the causes of child mortality change; (2) to obtain background knowledge of epidemiology so as to understand the disease profiles of under-five children of different age groups in developing countries; (3) to advance statistical skills for time-series and multilevel studies; and (4) to obtain training in research ethics and develop concepts and skills for grant writing. These four goals will be met with the following four development activities: (1) course work and directed reading in demography and population studies, epidemiology, statistical methods, and research ethics; (2) mentorship from leading experts in demography (Kenneth Hill and Samuel Preston), epidemiology (Megan Murray), health policy (Agnes Binagwaho) and health economics (Peter Smith); (3) participating and presenting research in workshops, seminars, and academic conferences for population studies and health; and (4) developing a grant to support an independent research program on health care financing and population health outcomes. There are three research specific aims: (1) to produce time-series country-specific estimates for the annual difference in the level of neonatal, infant and child mortality rates for the 64 countries with Demographic and Health Surveys and to generate complete time-series country-specific disbursement datasets for overall DAH, DAH for child health, and DAH for infectious disease programs from 1996 to 2011; (2) to systematically assess the effects of total DAH, DAH for child health, and DAH for combating infectious diseases on child mortality rates for the 64 DHS countries between 1996 and 2011; and (3) to understand the role of DAH in improving child health and reducing child mortality in Rwanda through increasing child health care provision using a "national platform approach." The K-01 award will provide me with strong mentorship and specialized training in demography and population studies as well as epidemiology and qualitative methods, which will enable me to carry out my long- term career goal of providing rigorous scientific evidence through an interdisciplinary approach for designing health care financing strategies that will effectively improve health outcomes for disadvantaged populations.