HIV-AIDS_SHPI.asp

Strategic Health Partnership Initiative -
Russian and American Cooperation in HIV/AIDS Capacity Building

The American International Health Alliance (AIHA) is partnering with Russia’s Ministry of Health and Social Development to implement the Strategic Health Partnership Initiative. With support from USAID, this program expands on the 2005 Bratislava Initiatives, a joint Russian-American presidential agreement designed to strengthen Russian-American cooperation on a number of cross-cutting issues on a global scale, including the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The Strategic Health Partnership Initiative harnesses US and Russian expertise to bolster HIV/AIDS capacity in Russia by developing postgraduate level curricula. Another key focus of the program is to strengthen Russia’s capacity to provide professional assistance to the countries most affected by the global HIV and TB epidemics.

Target regions for the project are Russia; CIS countries including Central Asia; and Africa, including Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia, and Tanzania. In addition to strengthening Russia’s capacity to provide technical and professional assistance to nations epidemic around the globe that are most affected by HIV/AIDS and TB, the project is also designed to foster the development of postgraduate TB and HIV/AIDS curricula for Russia and other countries and the introduction of innovative quality improvement approaches in education and care and treatment.

During Phase I of the project (October 2007-October 2010), Russian mentors focused primarily on strengthening laboratory services for HIV, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. In Phase II (October 2010-October 2015), that scope has been broadened to encompass other clinical aspects of prevention, care, and treatment for infectious diseases.

In close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and USAID, AIHA formed two working groups — one to direct the Russian postgraduate training component and another to lead the third country laboratory component — and is partnering with Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry and 1st Sechenov Moscow State Medical University to develop undergraduate and postgraduate training programs on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

AIHA and its partners have developed and published a Russian- and English-language HIV manual for students from developing countries who attend medical school in Russia, Moldova, and the three Central Asia nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. This course has been adapted, translated into national languages, and approved for use in all of these countries. Developed through the project, this manual will help to better prepare these individuals to provide quality care in their own countries.

In addition, AIHA has conducted five training-of-trainer courses to introduce new HIV/AIDS-related educational material in Russia. These faculty trainings include a workshop for the postgraduate course on HIV and opportunistic infections in Ufa in February 2010 and for the postgraduate course on HIV co-infection with hepatitis B and C in May 2010 in Astrakhan. AIHA also conducted three faculty trainings for the elective course on HIV for international students in Moscow (April 2010), Suzdal (September 2010), and Chisinau, Moldova (March 2011). The program has also supported a clinical mentoring workshop in St. Petersburg for postgraduate medical faculty and health professionals from Central Asia.

AIHA’s HIV/AIDS Twinning Center program helps to coordinate and facilitate placement of Russian lab mentors in Africa, while the Regional Knowledge Hub for the Care and Treatment of HIV/AIDS in Eurasia has been instrumental in disseminating information and technical assistance outside the Russian Federation.

Working with MedBusinessConsulting, AIHA deployed 19 Russian laboratory experts for short-term mentorship assignments in 2009-2011. Technical assistance was provided on HIV, TB, and mycology lab diagnostics in Botswana; rabies control and prevention in Ethiopia; quality control in HIV diagnostics, pathomorphology, and forensic medicine in Tanzania; curricula development assistance in Namibia; and PCR equipment trainings in Uzbekistan. The significant contributions of the program toward building lab capacity have been recognized by the ministries of health and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the local laboratory staff, in all five countries.

Key accomplishments during Phase I of the project include:

*5 curricula were developed and certified in 2009-2010 (postgraduate courses on HIV and associated diseases; care for HIV patients co-infected with hepatitis B or C; palliative care in patients with HIV; and HIV prevention in dentistry; as well as an undergraduate HIV course for international students;
*Curriculum for a new undergraduate elective course on HIV and an HIV manual for foreign students enrolled in Russian medical schools were developed and implemented in 2009-2010;
*3 postgraduate curricula (HIV and associated diseases; care for HIV patients co-infected with hepatitis B or C; and HIV prevention in dentistry), as well as an undergraduate HIV course for international students were adapted, certified and translated into national languages in, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan;
*19 Russian laboratory mentors have been placed in Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan as of April 2011;
*In cooperation with the US Web site www.hivdent.org, AIHA and MSMSU developed a Russian HIV Dentistry site. This Web site, www.HIVDent.ru, has a number of translated materials, as well as resources developed by Russian specialists from MSMSU.

For a PDF overview of the Strategic Health Partnership Initiative in both English and Russian (March 2011), please click here.

To read the Final Performance Report for Phase I of the Strategic Health Partnership Initiative (PDF- January 2011), please click here.

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