Principal Investigators /Program Directors (last first, middle): Kamya, Moses, R; Katahoire, Anne, R; Camlin, Carol, S
Strengthening behavioral and social science research capacity to address evolving challenges in HIV
care and prevention in Uganda
Project Summary/Abstract
Despite recent gains, major gaps remain to attaining optimal HIV care cascade outcomes and prevention
targets in Uganda. Advances will require a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by people living with
HIV and their healthcare providers, robust interventions targeted towards these challenges, and insights to
advance uptake of biomedical preventions; behavioral and social science research (BSSR) is crucial to this
endeavor. A systematic understanding of the drivers of individuals’ behavior, the role interpersonal relations
play in behavioral decisions, and the influence of socio-cultural and health systems contexts on decisions and
outcomes, is critical towards achieving targets and ending the epidemic. However, there are two major hurdles
on the path towards inclusion of BSSR to address gaps and develop informed interventions: first, lack of
systematic integration of behavioral, social science and biomedical research in pragmatic trials and
implementation science research in HIV; and second, a scarcity of African-led BSSR in HIV. We propose to
address these challenges by facilitating training and mentorship of Ugandan scientists in BSSR.
This proposed program at Makerere University (MU), Uganda, will facilitate cross-disciplinary research that
integrates BSSR into biomedical HIV interventions, and supports, trains, and mentors the next generation of
African scientists to inform and lead this research. The program will: 1) provide BSSR training and mentorship
to address evolving HIV care and prevention challenges; 2) strengthen the inter-disciplinarity of the MU
Implementation Science (ImS) training program through inclusion of BSSR training; 3) promote the integration
of BSSR in ongoing HIV ImS research projects; 4) facilitate regular interaction among BSS researchers,
biomedical scientists, policy makers, and HIV program stakeholders, in order to strengthen BSSR informed
evidence-based decision making; and 5) foster collaborations between BSSR faculty in Uganda and the U.S.
to enable capacity-building and skills transfer. This program leverages existing collaborations among social,
behavioral, and biomedical scientists at MU and its HIV programs, the University of California, San Francisco
(UCSF), and Yale University. The program will provide short and long-term non-degree and degree training to
strengthen BSSR expertise for trainees at diverse career stages. A pool of experienced faculty will develop and
deliver training and mentored field research experiences. The proposed program will: 1) train future Ugandan
leaders at MU in four-year PhD training in the health sciences focusing on BSSR; 2) support trainees in MU
Master’s degree programs in Health Services Research, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Public Health,
Sociology and Anthropology with mentored BSSR opportunities; 3) offer long-term non-degree fellowship
training including a UCSF online ImS course; and 4) provide intensive short courses in qualitative and mixed
research methods, theory and practice of BSSR in HIV, and training in ImS. We anticipate the project to result
in strong scientific leadership and expertise in BSSR in HIV in Uganda.
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