NIH

PROJECT SUMMARY

Background

 Fogarty International Centre (FIC) through the National Institute of Health (NIH) funded Africa University’s project, “Enhancing Capacity in HIV Prevention Implementation Research at Africa University, Zimbabwe”.  This was against the backdrop of the burden of HIV in Zimbabwe. Although the burden had been declining by then, the estimated HIV prevalence of 15% among the 15-49 year age group was still high. An estimated 1.16 million people were living with HIV and there were approximately 46,000 new infections acquired in 2011. Zimbabwe still has a high burden of HIV, and has prioritized HIV prevention in its strategic response to the epidemic. Implementation research in combination with HIV prevention is a crucial component of such a response, yet the prerequisite skills to conduct it were limited at Africa University. The prerequisite skills required ensuring that young researchers receive the training. Through this planning grant, a sustainable training program was to be established at Africa University (AU).

Achievements

• Completed survey that identified the skills gap and capacities needed to effectively and competently conduct research and research training in HIV Implementation Science and HIV prevention at Africa University
• The project facilitated capacity development of required skills set for HIV Implementation Science among faculty members.
• This was Africa University’s first award from NIH and provided a tremendous learning platform for AU in capacity development to prepare and submit NIH grant application
• Grant Administration personnel capacity development on grant management procedures was enhanced.
• Facilitated proposal writing for the HIV Self Testing project at Africa University which was later funded by General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM)