Yale-American University in Beirut Program on Advanced Injury Research (Yale-AUB PAIR Consortium) - 7. Project Summary/Abstract Injury-related death accounts for 9% of all global mortality. That is more than 1.7 times all HIV, malaria, and TB-related deaths combined. Put another way, every 6 seconds, someone in the world dies as a result of injury. More than 90% of this burden of injury comes to bear on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the capacity for preventing, mitigating, and treating injuries is considerably limited. Moreover, injury data that captured in most LMICs are commonly incomplete, difficult to access, and not regularly analyzed making it difficult to produce evidence-based policies for trauma and injury. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) injury mortality rates are 3x higher in LMICs than in high-income countries. The combined effects of regional armed conflicts, humanitarian crises, large numbers of youth, highly urbanized and motorized populations, and limited public safety infrastructure make this region highly vulnerable to injury disability and death. Further compounding the disparity is the fact that LMICs, in general, and EMR LMICs in particularl have woefully insufficient numbers of trained injury scientists to meet these challenges. Meeting the health and policy challenges posed by the large injury burden in the EMR will require a new approach to training injury researchers in the region. The Yale University – American University of Beirut Program for Advanced Injury Research (YALE-AUB PAIR) is a five-year program that will use a mix of short-, medium-, and long-term training, coupled with structured mentoring from faculty at both institutions to strengthen multiple levels of the trauma and injury research ecosystem in Lebanon and the region. YALE-AUB PAIR will identify and recruit outstanding applicants; train them to think critically about trauma and injury in Lebanon and the EMR; and provide them with the skills and mentorship to prepare them for careers as independent trauma and injury researchers. YALE-AUB PAIR combines MS and PhD degree training, focused research certificate training for professionals and clinicians, workshops for governmental and nongovernmental staff and long-term mentorship to: [AIM 1] Develop career injury science researchers with knowledge, skills, and experience to become independent investigators able to generate novel, and context-specific research into the causes, risk factors and impacts of trauma and injury in Lebanon and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR); [AIM 2] Develop future leaders in injury science in Lebanon and EMR who can generate and sustain programs of trauma and injury research; [AIM 3] Strengthen the injury science ecosystem in Lebanon and the EMR to enhance the capacity for injury surveillance to ensure the availability and completeness of data for future injury research. YALE-AUB PAIR will train 2 PhD, 6 MS, 20 Certificate level, and 200 government and non- governmental personnel over five years.
