The Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology (CCASAnet) is an established and productive network that is responsive to scientific opportunities arising in the region and across International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS (leDEA) regions worldwide. This successful collaboration, created during the first leDEA funding cycle, has resulted in the productive enrichment and merging of human and technological resources from HIV clinical care and research sites in Port-au-Prince, Mexico City, Tegucigalpa, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Santiago, and the Vanderbilt Data Coordinating Center (DCC). The Vanderbilt DCC will continue to effectively harmonize and analyze complex databases and manage the CCASAnet 2.0 consortium. The project will conduct and facilitate research using the shared data repository to answer questions that cannot be answered by any single source. The clinical outcomes and complications related to HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy in the region will be evaluated. Studies are proposed to determine the impact of infections other than HIV, particularly tuberculosis, hepatitis, and human papillomavirus. Factors uniquely related to adolescents and young adults with HIV will be addressed across the region. Innovative biostatistical and informatics methods will be developed and applied. Biologic specimen repositories will be established that will facilitate future translational research. Programs for mentoring and education to enhance clinical research and data management capabilities at CCASAnet sites, promote junior researchers, and catalyze ongoing growth of scientific leadership in the region will be implemented. By these activities, CCASAnet 2.0 will help advance both the science of HIV epidemiology, and the information science that underpins international research collaboration.
The project seeks to articulate contemporary research questions that are important to the dynamics of the global HIV epidemic and other infectious diseases within CCASAnet consortium countries. The proposed research will increase the understanding of similarities and differences in patterns of HIV care and disease outcomes in the Caribbean and Latin America, and will address issues that are also compelling in other regional settings
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