The AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is designed to build long-term scientific capacities that help to address the AIDS epidemic internationally. The UIC-AITRP currently involves collaboration between the UIC School of Public Health, the UIC College of Nursing, The Great Lakes Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR), and key institutional participants in three countries: Chile, Malawi, and Indonesia. Current collaborating partners overseas are: The University of Chile, The University of Malawi, and The University of Indonesia. This application for supplemental funds requests 3 years of support to extend its training activities to China. We have chosen to focus on China as an additional training site because of the gravity of the AIDS epidemic in this country, the need for clinical and behavioral science research to meet this rapidly increasing need for trained professionals to address the epidemic, and the presence of existing collaborative relationships with the proposed partners that will help to build and sustain a research infrastructure. Also, the expertise, research, and training experience of UIC-AITRP faculty encompass three of the major areas of capacity building for which the country is in dire need: (1) HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention strategies for use with drug-using populations; (2) the microbiology of HIV/AIDS, and (3) nursing science focusing on AIDS prevention, intervention, and care. The College of Nursing at Beijing University will serve as the AITRP's collaborating partner in China. Funding is being requested to support one UIC-AITRP trainee from China for an MS degree in Nursing and two postdoctoral trainees (one in public health and the other in HIV/AIDS virology). Three intensive short-term traineeships also will be made available in each of the AITRP's major areas of training (nursing, public health, and virology) as they apply to HIV/AIDS. In addition, one U.S. minority scholar will be supported for a short-term training experience in China. In country workshops in China will target a wide range of individuals concerned about HIV/AIDS and its related diseases including health professionals (R.N.M.D., D.D.S., D.M.D, MS, Ph.D. or their equivalent); medical technicians and health care workers; allied health professionals, and policy makers. This mix of training mechanisms and multi-disciplinary training will permit a broad range of training opportunities that target key aspects of the epidemic and also strengthen China's ability to successfully address the epidemic on several key fronts. ? ?
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