? The application proposes a 3-day interdisciplinary meeting to integrate social science methods and ecosystem approaches to improve infectious diseases research in the Asia-Pacific Region. The purpose and goal of the meeting is to strengthen capacity for ongoing innovation in infectious diseases research through the integration of social, ecological and biomedical sciences. ? ? Attention is increasingly turning to the complex social and ecosystem context of emerging infectious disease and the people and communities affected by them. Although social systems and ecosystems are tightly linked through a variety of feedbacks, until recently, research response to the wider context of emerging infectious disease (EID) has tended to focus either on the importance of social and behavioral sciences in preventing EID or the ecological context of infectious diseases. Methodological dialog and interaction across these important areas of research has been limited by persistent disciplinary and institutional divides. This has limited our ability to identify more effective integrated responses to infectious disease. Fortunately, new opportunities for interdisciplinary integration have emerged as a result of socioecological systems research and the increasing convergence of efforts of social, ecological and biomedical scientists. ? ? The planned meeting is an opportunity to develop methodologies for research, surveillance and disease prevention that are focused on how infectious diseases emerge from systemic social and ecological interactions. Specifically, the meeting will focus on integrating social science methods and ecosystem approaches to address HIV/AIDS, Dengue Fever and Leptospirosis as target diseases in the Asia-Pacific region, and to harness health benefits of the improved research and policy that is emerging from this type of integrated understanding. ? ? The meeting will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, co-hosted by the University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine and the East-West Center. Participants in the meeting include an eminent selection of invited speakers, whose expertise spans a range of disciplines including Medial Anthropology, Medical Geography, Geographic Information Sciences, Epidemiology, Public Health, Ecology and Microbiology. The program is designed and participants selected to develop ongoing capacity for integration across these fields and methods. ? ?
