Controllable infectious diseases, such as malaria and sexually transmitted infections, are rampant in Malawi. In order to combat these diseases, the government of Malawi has given high priority to training medical and public health practitioners, and established a College of Medicine in 1992 and a School of Community and Public Health in 2003. Both schools benefit from Malawi's strong research infrastructure, developed by long-term collaborations with researchers from the United States and United Kingdom. UNC has particularly strong history of research and training in Malawi, which will serve as the foundation for the project proposed here.
The aim of this proposal is to support training in infectious disease epidemiology for Malawians through collaboration between UNC and the new University of Malawi School of Community and Public Health, which has admitted its first class of M.P.H. students this January. Over 5 years, two Malawians will be partially supported to obtain Ph.D.'s in infectious disease epidemiology at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health in Chapel Hill. In addition, a Center for Infectious Disease Research will be established within the School of Community and Public Health in Malawi. Several UNC faculty members/year will visit Malawi to give short courses on infectious diseases; the grant will also provide research fellowships to as many as 4 Malawian MPH students per year to carry out their thesis research under both local and UNC faculty mentorship. A small competitive research grant program will be established for these MPH students and for faculty. We believe that our trainees will have ample opportunity to contribute directly, and through research, to improving health care in Malawi.
| Kapito-Tembo, Atupele; Meshnick, Steven R; van Hensbroek, Michaël Boele et al. (2011) Marked reduction in prevalence of malaria parasitemia and anemia in HIV-infected pregnant women taking cotrimoxazole with or without sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine intermittent preventive therapy during pregnancy in Malawi. J Infect Dis 203:464-72 |
| Kalilani, Linda; Mofolo, Innocent; Chaponda, Marjorie et al. (2010) The effect of timing and frequency of Plasmodium falciparum infection during pregnancy on the risk of low birth weight and maternal anemia. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 104:416-22 |
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