EXCEED THE SPACEPROVIDED. This program proposes to provide trainingto professionals from sub-Saharan Africa in a broad array of fields integral to maternal and child health. Training will includeareas of epidemiology, clinical investigation, monitoringand evaluation, meta-analysis, clinical decision making, and outcomes researchcrosscutting disciplines that provide skills applicable to a diverse set of maternal and child disorders. Training will also be offered in areas that are becoming increasingly important in childhood as infant and child mortality rates fall in many developing countries: child development, occupational therapy for children with special needs, human nutrition,health communication, and clinical and laboratory investigation of childhood infections. The program will involve faculty from the Schools of Medicine, Nutrition, and Arts and Sciences at Tufts, from the Columbia University School of Public Health, from two medical schools in Africa- the University of Natal and the University of Zambia, and from two research organizations in South Africa - one government supported, and one supported by a private foundation. The program will build on the close ongoing collaboration that exists between these U.S. and African institutions. This proposal involves short-term training to be conducted both in Boston and in Africa, longer-term training that can lead to either a Masters or Ph.D. degree, and mentoring and financial support for research when the trainee returns home. Candidates for training will be selected each year after soliciting applications throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The intent will be to provide Master's degree training to two individualsyearly - one from South Africa and one from another African country, with a focus on Zambia. Priority will be given to identifying the best individuals, and then matching them with a curriculum in Boston that meets their needs, and the needs of their home institution and society. On-site training in Africa will includeseven short-term (two-week) training courses-two courses in years 1 and 5 and 1course annually in years 2-4. These will in part be modeled on short-term courses already being offered in Boston. They will cover current research issues including micronutrient supplementation; techniques for monitoring and evaluating intervention programs in nutritionor child development; interventions and research methods in occupational therapy for children with special needs; methods in clinical investigation; and research methods in enteric microbiology. PERFORMANCE SITE ========================================Section End===========================================
