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

描述(由申请者提供)：K01指导研究科学家发展奖将为候选人提供高级培训，使其成为一名专注于将流行病学、行为科学和经济发展联系起来的艾滋病毒预防战略的独立调查员。调查员的长期目标是制定、实施和评估创新的多学科干预措施，以减少发展中世界妇女和女孩中艾滋病毒感染的发生率。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议的基础，包括两名高级导师、一个具有互补专业知识的顾问小组、教学教育、技能发展和指导研究，以便在完成奖项时，候选人将为独立的研究生涯做好准备。培训计划是与指导研究计划并行制定的，因此当获得新的教育和技能时，可以立即将其应用于研究方案的相关方面。在这个奖项的过程中，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；(2)获得农业和资源经济学、干预开发以及实验性流行病学研究的实施和分析方面的实用技能；(3)完成指导研究计划，以设计和试点艾滋病毒预防干预措施；以及(4)通过建立出版记录、由专题专家指导以及为未来的提案生成试点数据，成为一名独立的调查员。研究部分的目标是审查经济背景如何影响坦桑尼亚农村妇女感染艾滋病毒的脆弱性，并试行一项干预措施，以在经济上增强女农民的能力，减少艾滋病毒感染。在撒哈拉以南非洲，促进妇女经济赋权日益被视为预防艾滋病毒的一种有希望的办法，因为缺乏经济资源和对经济资源的控制增加了对艾滋病毒感染的易感性。这项提案采取了一种创新的方法来预防艾滋病毒，重点放在农业上，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。这项研究的目的是：(1)调查以农业为基础的可持续生计干预措施的潜力，以减少坦桑尼亚女农民感染艾滋病毒的风险；(2)确定家庭收入、粮食不安全和土地所有权对坦桑尼亚女户主家庭的性风险承担的影响；(3)对坦桑尼亚女农民进行以农业为基础的可持续生计干预的试点研究，以提高家庭收入和粮食安全，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。显然需要有经验证据来证明经济不安全对艾滋病毒脆弱性的影响。此外，必须制定多部门预防对策，以解决非洲妇女所面临的错综复杂的经济、社会和背景风险。这项提议旨在满足这两方面的需要，其结果将对今后应对艾滋病毒大流行产生重要影响。

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.