Anonymous - 7-4-2005 at 02:02 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/sddt/20050702/l...
Jul 1
A program to improve the bi-national response to HIV/AIDS prevention in northwestern Mexico and surrounding regions has been selected for funding by
the United States Agency for International Development.
Led by Steffanie Strathdee, Ph.D., a professor at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, the project was selected to receive
approximately $500K over three years through a USAID grant. The objective is to strengthen the capacity of Mexican public health practitioners,
outreach workers and policy makers to prevent and manage HIV/AIDS and co-occurring epidemics, such as tuberculosis and to translate ongoing research
into policy and practice.
The training program, which is through the USAID Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO), is a four-way partnership
among the UCSD School of Medicine and San Diego State University (SDSU) School of Public Health in the U.S., and Universidad Autonoma de Baja
California (UABC) and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) in Mexico.
While participating faculty from the four institutions have a history of working together and are involved in joint HIV/AIDS research, the
establishment of this four-way partnership is unprecedented and unique according to Strathdee, who also holds the Harold Simon Endowed Chair in
International Health at UCSD.
The program is consistent with the USAID Mexico country plan and the goal of Mexicos National HIV Prevention Control Program to contain HIV/AIDS and
mitigate its impact on health in the border region with a focus on high risk and vulnerable populations, she said. Since recent studies have suggested
that the prevalence of HIV infection among high risk populations in Tijuana is on the rise, this binational program is especially timely, UCSD said in
a release.
The program is geared to address the need to develop interventions to reduce the ongoing spread of HIV and to link HIV-positive persons to medical
care, said Strathdee.