Infectious Disease in East Africa: A Behavioral and Economic Research Collaborative (IDEA-BERC)

项目摘要 虽然技术创新传统上被认为是抗击传染病的关键， 最近爆发的埃博拉和寨卡病毒表明，迫切需要整合见解 帮助控制潜在的流行病和传染病。必须了解 临床医生、患者和社区做出有关卫生保健和传染病的经济和社会决策。 疾病风险-特别是在贫困的情况下，这对人的决策产生了重大影响。 为了应对这些挑战，东非的传染病：一种行为和经济 研究合作（IDEA-BERC）将提供严格的，区域定制的实施研究培训 应用于传染病的挑战。5年制项目包括12-15名博士的中期培训 和博士后东非研究人员，谁将配备-通过课程，指导领域 研究和课程开发-解决社会，行为和经济方面的问题， 传染病学员的研究项目将集中在四个主题之一（即健康激励， 信息，定价和服务交付）应用于一系列主题，从慢性疾病和 寄生虫感染，疟疾和性传播感染。 受训人员随后将返回本国，在持续的指导下进行研究 由加州大学伯克利分校教师和东非同行导师。他们将加入一个由同行研究人员组成的紧密网络， IDEA-BERC的三个东非合作研究机构：非洲人口健康研究中心， 内罗毕大学和卢旺达大学-所有这些都渴望在这一有希望的领域发展能力， 跨学科领域。作为IDEA-BERC的一部分，这些合作伙伴将开展至少8次短期培训， 实施科学，达到200多名参与者，并侧重于补充研究 技能，如格兰特写作，大数据，和文献综述，因为它们涉及到实施研究。 该计划的独特之处在于其在一系列定量和定性社会评估中的严格标准。 科学-不仅关注观测研究和模型开发（许多东方国家 非洲研究人员已经出类拔萃），但在对改善传染病的干预措施进行科学评估方面- 相关行为。从长远来看，IDEA-BERC将建立一个强大的区域调查员网络， 拥有技术能力和研究基础设施的机构，为政府的设计提供信息， 多边传染病控制努力。将通过重点投资，进一步建设区域能力， 南南联网和召开会议的机会，包括年度区域会议和小额赠款 促进教学研究方法的实施。这些活动将确保受训人员 发展成为一个可持续的科学社区，具有更大的可持续性和公共卫生影响， 任何研究人员或机构都可以孤立地实现。

Project Summary While technological innovation has traditionally been considered essential in the fight against infectious diseases, recent outbreaks of the Ebola and Zika viruses have revealed a compelling need to integrate insights from social science to help control potential epidemics and pandemics. It is essential to understand how clinicians, patients, and communities make economic and social decisions about health care and infectious disease risk—particularly in the context of poverty, which significantly affects human decision-making. To address these challenges, the Infectious Disease in East Africa: A Behavioral and Economic Research Collaborative (IDEA-BERC) will offer rigorous, regionally-tailored training in implementation research applied to infectious disease challenges. The 5-year program includes medium-term training for 12-15 doctoral and post-doctoral East African researchers, who will be equipped— through coursework, mentored field research, and curriculum development— to address the social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of infectious disease. Trainees' research projects will focus on one of 4 themes (i.e. health incentives, information, pricing, and service delivery) applied across a range of topics, from diarrheal diseases and helminth infections, to malaria and sexually transmitted infections. Trainees will subsequently return to their home nations to conduct research under ongoing mentorship by UC Berkeley faculty and East African peer mentors. They will join a tight network of peer researchers at IDEA-BERC's three partner East African research institutions: the African Population Health Research Center, University of Nairobi and the University of Rwanda--all of which are eager to develop capacity in this promising interdisciplinary area. As part of IDEA-BERC, these partners will carry out at least 8 short-term trainings related to implementation science, reaching more than 200 participants, and focused on complementary research skills like Grant Writing, Big Data, and Literature Reviews as they relate to implementation research. Unique to the program are its rigorous standards across a range of quantitative and qualitative social sciences—focusing not only on observational research and model development (areas in which many East African researchers already excel), but on scientific evaluation of interventions to improve infectious disease- related behaviors. In the long term, IDEA-BERC will create a robust regional network of investigators and institutions with the technical capacity and research infrastructure to inform the design of government and multi-lateral infectious disease control efforts. Regional capacity will be further built via focused investments in South-South networking and convening opportunities, including an annual regional conference and mini-grants to promote the teaching of implementation research methods. These activities will ensure that the trainees develop into a sustainable scientific community, with greater sustainability—and public health impact—than any investigator or institution can achieve in isolation.