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This is an AIDS Research Program at Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN), University of Malawi in partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The partnership at UIC involves the faculty from both the College of Nursing (CON) and the School of Public Health (SPH) who participates in the AIDS International Training and Research Program at UIC funded by the NIH John E. Fogarty International Center. The research program is located within KCN’s Primary Health Care and Nursing Research Center. Although meant to support a wide range of studies on HIV/AIDS, the Kamuzu College of Nursing AIDS Research Program (KARP) gives special priority to behavioral science research that focuses on one or more of the following three areas:

1. Behavioral, cultural, social, and psychosocial factors that influence HIV/AIDS prevention, care and management;
2. The role and impact of traditional health practitioners and practices in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment; and
3. The role of reproductive health in the acquisition, prevention, progression, and treatment of HIV.

Aims and Objectives

1. To develop a research infrastructure at KCN that will strengthen the capacity of KCN faculty and students, collaborating research partners from UIC, other research scientists in Malawi and from other countries to conduct relevant HIV/AIDS behavioral science research;
2. To establish and/or enhance KCN research and service linkages with institutional partners outside of Malawi including UIC as well as local in-country investigators, public health officials, community institutions, and health care providers, including traditional health practitioners; and
3. To support and implement three behavioral science, exploratory research studies in Malawi as a first step in building an AIDS Research Program at KCN.

The over-riding scientific goal of this study is to build an institutional program of research excellence at KCN to facilitate innovative behavioral science research that helps to improve the effectiveness of AIDS treatment and prevention throughout Africa including Malawi.

Significance of the Project

Support for infrastructural development and capacity-strengthening through the establishment of a program of AIDS research will enhance the ability of KCN faculty, students, and collaborative investigators from both Malawi and other parts of the world to respond to Malawi’s AIDS epidemic. Specifically, KCN envisions creating a research environment that will provide the University and College with the ability to conduct centralized HIV/AIDS behavioral science research, with faculty and collaborative investigators engaged in productive, scientifically sound, and innovative AIDS investigations. When viewed from a historical lens that required NIH applicants for funding to be employed by U.S. institutions, the proposed project and its capacity building efforts are novel in that these activities will be led by an African investigator from an African institution. Another innovative and greatly advantageous aspect of the project is that it is being developed within a College of Nursing. Much of Malawi’s formal health care is delivered through nurses, the majority of which are trained at KCN. Another innovative aspect of the project is its focus on behavioral science research. Currently, excellent bio-medical studies of HIV/AIDS are being conducted in Malawi by scientists from the University of Carolina and Johns Hopkins to name two of several premier educational institutions. The goal of this project is to add sound AIDS behavioral science research to this important growing body of work.

By the end of the 4 years of requested funding, we expect to have: (1) developed active, multi-disciplinary research teams representing a partnership between Malawian scientists and other investigators including research scientists from UIC; (2) competed the pilot work contained in the research component of the application; (3) submitted grant applications to NIH or other funding sources based on the pilots; (4) mentored and added to the research training of promising junior scholars and others with the potential to address important research issues in HIV/AIDS, and (5) completed setting into place the infrastructural capabilities needed to implement along-term research agenda. Anticipating the need to sustain research capabilities at KCN once this application’s funding period has ended, an underlying goal of the project is to enhance the opportunities and expertise of research scientists at KCN and their collaborative partners to obtain research funding for future studies.