Sustainable Research Training and Capacity Building in Liberia for Emerging Viral Epidemics

利比里亚是一个资源丰富但经济贫穷的国家，在14年的内战摧毁了其基础设施之后，继续努力实现增长和复苏。在最近的埃博拉病毒（EBOV）流行期间，利比里亚只有不到100名医生，需要国际社会帮助控制疫情。利比里亚得到的援助大大改善了物质资源（例如，实验室设备和密封设施），但没有显著增加人力资源。今天，卫生保健工作者只有约25%的护士，助产士和药剂师，以及国家所需的9%的医生。利比里亚要发展可持续的研究能力，以便及早发现和控制有可能造成区域和全球大流行病的新出现的病毒性疾病，就需要有一个机制来吸引学生的兴趣，并不断提供受过大学教育的毕业生，他们掌握病毒、流行病学和如何开展研究方面的最新知识。利比里亚大学（UL）是利比里亚最大的政府支持的机构，其科学和技术学院向希望进入卫生专业的学生授予理学学士学位。此外，UL的医学院和塔布曼医学艺术研究所分别培训医生和护士。2015年，UL进行了需求评估，并制定了战略学术计划。为了响应这一计划，夏威夷大学（UH）热带医学、医学微生物学和药理学系和雅温得大学（UY）的教师提议与UL的教师合作，建立一个创造性的培训计划，目的是提高UL生物医学科学的兴趣，改善教学和学生的学习经验，并提供关于对新出现的病毒流行病进行研究的培训。规划过程有12个步骤：1）为教师制定职业发展计划; 2）确定如何加强病毒学，新兴流行病和研究的课程; 3）评估UL和UH之间的远程学习的可行性; 4）评估引入实验室为基础的课程的可能性，题为“新兴流行病毒的研究，”到课程;（5）确定学生参加国内指导研究项目的机会;（6）调查其他活动，以便列入培训赠款;（7）探讨在夏威夷培训利比里亚学生的问题;（8）建立南南学术和研究合作;（9）确定选择学生参加培训的方法; 10）评估利比里亚卫生保健工作人员对特定技术人员的需求; 11）确定具有多学科背景的个人在培训咨询小组任职; 12）编写D43申请。十人规划委员会由UL，UH和UY教师组成，他们是教师学者，他们的D 71规划工作得到了更多具有病毒学，流行病学和全球卫生研究经验的教师的支持。加强利比里亚大学的研究能力是保证具有研究专长的卫生专业人员队伍可持续发展的唯一途径，以确定和控制利比里亚未来新出现的病毒流行病。

Liberia, a resource rich but economically poor country, continues to struggle with growth and recovery following its 14-year civil war that destroyed its infrastructure. During the recent Ebola virus (EBOV) epidemic, Liberia had fewer than 100 physicians and needed help from the international community for its control. The assistance Liberia received largely improved physical resources (e.g., laboratory equipment and containment facilities), but did not significantly increase human resources. Today, the healthcare workforce has only ~25% of the nurses, midwives, and pharmacists, and 9% of the physicians the country needs. For Liberia to develop sustainable research capacity for early identification and control of emerging viral diseases with the potential for regional and global pandemics, Liberia needs a mechanism to garner students’ interest, and a continuous supply of university-educated students graduating with current knowledge on viruses, epidemiology and how to conduct research. The University of Liberia (UL) is the largest government supported institution in Liberia, and its College of Science and Technology awards Bachelor of Science degrees to students who wish to enter the health professions. Also, UL’s College of Medicine and Tubman Institute of Medicinal Arts train physicians and nurses, respectively. In 2015, UL conducted a needs assessment and developed a strategic academic plan. In response to this plan, faculty in the Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology, University of Hawai’i (UH), and the University of Yaoundé 1 (UY) propose to partner with faculty at UL to establish a creative training program with the goal of garnering interest and improving teaching and student learning experience in biomedical sciences at UL, and providing training in the conduct of research on emerging viral epidemics. The planning process has 12 steps: 1) devise a career development plan for faculty; 2) determine how to strengthen the curriculum in virology, emerging epidemic diseases, and research; 3) assess feasibility of long-distance learning between UL and UH; 4) evaluate the possibility of introducing a laboratory-based course entitled “Research on Emerging Epidemic Viruses,” into the curriculum; 5) identify opportunities for students to participate in in-country mentored research projects; 6) investigate other activities for inclusion in a training grant; 7) explore training of Liberian students in Hawai’i; 8) establish south-south academic and research collaboration; 9) identify a method for selecting students for training; 10) assess needs for specific skilled personnel in the Liberian healthcare workforce; 11) identify individuals with multi-disciplinary backgrounds to serve on a Training Advisory Group; and 12) write a D43 application. The ten-person planning committee consists of UL, UH and UY faculty who are teacher-scholars, and their D71 planning efforts are supported by a larger group of faculty with experience in virology, epidemiology and global health research. Strengthening the research capacity at the UL is the only way to guarantee a sustainable cadre of health professionals with research expertise to identify and control future emerging viral epidemics in Liberia.