Perinatally acquired HIV remains an urgent global public health problem. Zambia's high urban HIV prevalence combined with the large urban population makes Zambia's per capita HIV/AIDS burden among the highest in the world. In Lusaka, the capital city of about one and one-half million persons, there are 13,000 deliveries per year in the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), over 4,090 of which are to HIV-infected women. The 10 city birthing centers have more than 32,000 deliveries per year, including an estimated 10,000 HIV-infected women. The objective of this proposal is to initiate, in collaboration with the UAB Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), a training and research program among physicians, nurses and midwives for the prevention of perinatal HIV transmission in Lusaka, Zambia. The training program will include: (a) perinatal epidemiology principles, (b) clinical research methods, (c) obstetric and neonatal techniques for perinatal HIV prevention, (d) program evaluation, (e) clinical research coordination, (f) voluntary counseling and testing, and (g) ethical issues. At the completion of the training program, the trainees will be familiar with the mechanisms of perinatal HIV transmission, obstetric and neonatal techniques for perinatal HIV prevention research, clinical research methods and coordination, voluntary testing and counseling, program evaluation and ethical issues in research. They will be able to function as independent research or research collaborators with other scientist in Lusaka and elsewhere. This training program will promote the initiation of new perinatal HIV transmission prevention research and facilitate the establishment of long-term collaborative relationships between foreign investigators and MTRP research trainees in Zambia.
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