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Abstract #161953

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Chanza Baytop, MPH, DrPH¹, Junius Gonzales, MD, MBA¹, and Linda Kupfer, PhD². (1) Abt Associates, Inc., 4550 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 800 North, Bethesda, MD 20814-3393, 301-634-1727, chanza_baytop@abtassoc.com, (2) Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, 16 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892

Established by the Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1988, the AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) serves as a model for diverse international research training and research capacity building programs that respond to the most urgent and anticipated global health threats. This presentation will present the results of an outcome evaluation that used quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis including interviews with over 120 key informants around the world, a survey of ‘matched cohorts', and publications analysis and bibliometrics. Key measures on the program's main goals -developing expertise, building capacity and increasing collaborations – are presented, in addition to the self reported positive changes in research and career opportunities of AITRP trainees.

The results of the evaluation highlight: (1) that AITRP has a high success in traditional outcomes; (2) the increased likelihood that AITRP trainees can play a key role in HIV/AIDS policymaking at national, local and institutional levels; (3) that funding and types of training must be responsive, yet nimble, to developing countries' policy; and (4) the need for more sustained ‘connectedness' for collaboration across and within countries and the US in order to sustain multi-level capacities in combating the global AIDS epidemic. The findings emphasize the need to use evaluation to inform program management and will address conceptual and methodological challenges for both the design and evaluation of current and future programs designed to combat global health threats through collaboration between US and international researchers and policymakers.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify measures of capacity building in research training programs
• List lessons learned of how to maximize the impact of training programs through collaborations among institutions committed to supporting and absorbing capacity

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, International Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Slides (pdf) or Handout