Air Pollution and HealthGeoHealth Hub Research and Capacity Building

 环境暴露是全球死亡和发病的主要原因，室外和家庭空气污染日益被认为是导致寿命损失年和伤残调整寿命年(DALY)的主要因素。印度的快速城市化导致了一些世界上最严重的空气污染，这导致了 每年有超过62万名印度人死亡。尽管室内和室外污染对健康的影响已知，但在印度等低收入和中等收入国家，缺乏暴露与特定死因和心脏代谢因子等中间变量之间的剂量-反应关系的数据。为了减轻对健康的影响，迫切需要生成关于LMIC中环境暴露的独特特征的数据。不仅需要更多地了解LMIC中的暴露情况，而且还需要改进对环境卫生专业人员的培训，他们可以将这些信息转化为干预措施，以减少暴露和改善健康。印度公共卫生专业人员的数量比估计需求少1-2个数量级，环境和职业卫生领域的情况尤其严峻。印度迫切需要持续努力，增加公共卫生专业人员的数量，在环境和职业研究方法方面进行深入培训，并在这些领域进行广泛培训，作为公共卫生硕士或文凭学位的一部分。在这个名为“空气污染与健康地理健康中心研究和能力建设--美国”的拟议项目中，我们召集了来自哈佛大学公共卫生学院(HSPH)和印度公共卫生基金会(PHFI)的研究人员、导师和项目教员组成的多学科小组，以生成解决印度暴露的独特特征所需的数据，并建设印度公共卫生专业人员进行高质量研究和知识的能力，这些研究和知识可以转化为政策改进。培训计划将包括一个由短期、中期和长期培训组成的强大平台，包括：HSPH的硕士级别培训、强化暑期培训和导师式研究计划、支持PHFI现有硕士级别培训中环境健康集中的课程，以及支持参与U01的PHFI教职员工完成HSPH的导师式研究活动。该项目将由HSPH的Cash博士和Schwartz博士以及PHFI的Prabhakaran博士和Reddy博士领导，他们将得到以下方面的协助：1)行政监督委员会；2)培训监督委员会；3)HSPH和PHFI的项目协调人员；以及4)监督小组，为个别受训人员提供监督。在Linked U01下进行的研究的证据将直接告知印度政府机构和政策制定者如何降低空气污染水平，以减轻随之而来的疾病负担。拟议的对PHFI科学家的培训将使其建立申请未来资金的能力，并充分了解和解决这一环境威胁。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant Environmental exposures are major causes of death and morbidity globally, and both outdoor and household air pollution are increasingly recognized as major contributors to years of life lost and disability-adjusted life years (DALY). Rapid urbanization In India has resulted in some of the world's worst air pollution, which contributes to the deaths of more than 620,000 Indians annually. Despite the known health effects of indoor and outdoor pollution, data are lacking on the dose-response relationship between exposures and specific causes of death and intermediate variables such as cardiometabolic factors in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as India. Generation of data on the unique characteristics of environmental exposures in LMICs is urgently needed in order to mitigate the health effects. Not only is there a need to understand more about exposures in LMICs, but there is also a need to improve training of environmental health professionals who can translate this information into interventions to decrease exposure and improve health. The number of public health professionals in India is 1-2 orders of magnitude less than the estimated need, and the situation is particularly dire in the areas of environmental and occupational health. A sustained effort to increase the number of public health professionals with both deep training in environmental and occupational research methods and broad training in these areas as part of MPH or diploma degrees is urgently needed in India. In this proposed project, entitled "Air Pollution and Health GeoHealth Hub Research and Capacity Building-US," we have assembled a multidisciplinary group of researchers, mentors and program faculty from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) to generate data needed to address the unique characteristics of exposures in India and to build the capacity of public health professionals in India to conduct high quality research and knowledge that can be translated into policy improvements. The training program will include a robust platform of short, medium, and long-range training components, including: Master's level training at HSPH, an intensive summer training and mentored research program, curriculum that will support the institution of an environmental health concentration in PHFI's existing Master's level training, and support for PHFI faculty involved in the U01 to complete mentored research activities at HSPH. The project will be led by Dr.Cash and Dr.Schwartz from HSPH and by Dr. Prabhakaran and Dr. Reddy from PHFI, who will be assisted by the: 1) Administrative Oversight Committee; 2) Training Oversight Committee; 3) Program coordination personnel at HSPH and PHFI; and 4) Supervisory teams to provide oversight for individual trainees. Evidence from the research conducted under the linked U01 will directly inform Indian government agencies and policy makers on how to reduce air pollution levels in order to reduce the consequent burden of disease. The proposed training of PHFI scientists will give build capacity to apply for future funding and fully understand and address this environmental threat.