The College of Health Science (CHS), Addis Ababa University (AAU) with partner institutions (Dilla and Wolaita locally; and Alabama and Emory internationally) is submitting this application entitled, ?Health Professional Education Partnership Initiative? (HEPI) with the main objectives of: Curriculum development for community-based multi-disciplinary team training program; development and implementation of customizable research training modules in implementation science and qualitative researchacross the three collaborating institutions; implementation of an IT-supported, skills-based and simulation training modules with focus on chronic care, HIV, TB, malaria and other emerging health problems; and strengthening of research related infrastructure within the partnering institutions. The proposed multi-disciplinary team training will encourage cross-breeding across various disciplinary paradigms as well as simulate the situation where graduates will be working as a team of health workers in actual field situation. It will also maximize human resources utilization through joint planning in teaching common courses and in conducting research; and create opportunities for collaborative research as well as for addressing the health needs of the community in an integrated manner as a health team. Developing customizable research modules for short term training in implementation science and qualitative research methodology will be instrumental in improving treatment of under- served populations and communities with limited access to health care. Particularity, an IT- supported, skills-based & simulation training modules for training multi-disciplinary clinical practice teams in chronic care, HIV, TB, malaria and other emerging health problems will be important in developing the expertise for extending these training models into rural clinical and training institutions. Furthermore, the proposed application intends to establish and strengthen research related infrastructure that include research policies and guidelines, institutional ethical review boards, as well as administrative and fiscal accountability processes. The approaches for the proposed application include: - Developing competency-based curricula for the pre-service trainings in medicine, nursing, and pharmacy within the concept of multidisciplinary care delivery and shared responsibility; - Task-shifting within a multidisciplinary team framework that is planned to address the long-term care needs of PLHIV across the different levels of the health system in the catchment areas of the partnering institutions and through an outreach arrangement; - Short-term training of students and junior faculty in implementation science and qualitative research, grant writing, biostatistics, data management, and ethics; and - Mentorship arrangements by senior faculty at AAU and the international partner institutions for junior faculty within the local institutions in the partnership. 1
Leveraging the experiences and successes from MEPI, NEPI and MEPI D43 programs that have been implemented within the AAU-CHS, the HEPI program envisages to build capacity at the consortium of local universities in the application in areas of multidisciplinary team training, research training and mentorship in implementation science and qualitative methodology. It will also build institutions for administering and supporting research activities within the universities. The proposed program will eventually be instrumental in facilitating team-based service delivery as well as contribute to the improvement of retention in rural areas of the full range of the health workforce required to address the prevailing double burden of communicable diseases and those of emerging non-communicable diseases. 1
