Short
Course on Evidence-Based HIV/AIDS Programmes
August 19-23, 2006
University of Toronto, Canada
The Center for Global Health Research(CGHR), St.
Michael’s Hospital and the University
of Toronto, in collaboration with the International
AIDS Society, will offer a unique one-week course
on evidence-based HIV/AIDS control for national and/or
state/provincial government HIV/AIDS programme managers
in resource-limited settings. The Course will be held
at the University of Toronto immediately following the
XVI
International AIDS Conference to be held in August
2006.
University of Toronto’s Short Course
is designed specifically to enhance the knowledge and
skills of public sector HIV/AIDS programme managers
to develop and implement evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention
and treatment.
The following topics will incorporate
points of view which are relevant to enhancing policy
and programmes in developing countries:
• HIV prevention, including community-based
HIV prevention
• Applied epidemiology and modeling
• Biology of HIV and preparing for new technologies,
including vaccines and microbicides
• Clinical management, drug access and laboratory methods
• Monitoring, evaluation and surveillance
• Drug and commodities management and health infrastructure
• Ethics, law, human rights and political economy
• Economics and cost-effectiveness
To learn more about the course click on the links below
Rationale
of the course
Objectives
of the course
Development
of the course
Course Outline
Participation
and Application
Rationale
HIV/AIDS is currently a health and
development crisis in many low and middle income countries
throughout the world. Funds to combat HIV/AIDS are being
raised through mechanisms such as the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank
and direct support from private donors such as the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation. Given the magnitude and
urgency of the problem, it is essential that these funds
be applied in the most effective ways, based on well-informed
application of the best available evidence. Led by the
Centre for Global Health Research, this course is being
developed at the University of Toronto with its internationally
recognized scholars in a wide range of disciplines essential
to a comprehensive understanding of this evidence. Faculty
from the University of Toronto are currently engaged
in Global Health research and health care delivery in
many of the countries at which this course is being
directed. This short course on evidence-based HIV control
will build the knowledge and skills of health managers
and policy makers from developing countries currently
battling this epidemic. No such course is currently
offered anywhere and this will fill a major gap.
The responsibility to determine policies
and programs rests with health program managers who
need the knowledge and skills to assess and apply available
evidence in their own context. This course will provide
these requirements in a short, intensive format which
will be appropriate for persons with high level responsibilities
who cannot be spared for lengthy training programs.
In addition, it will provide them with a network of
colleagues and experts with whom they can share information
and who can be consulted on an ongoing basis for advice
and support.
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Objectives
The main goal of the Global IDEA Short
Course on Evidence-Based HIV/AIDS Control is to enhance
the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic by providing a
cadre of managers from low income countries with a comprehensive
understanding of the best available evidence for planning,
conducting and evaluating HIV/AIDS control activities.
Specific Objectives:
1. Provide comprehensive evidence-based
understanding of key issues in HIV/AIDS control to programme
managers from low income countries
Sub objective: use an interdisciplinary approach
emphasizing interactive learning and skills development.
Sub objective: address critical and current debates
raised during the XVI International AIDS Conference
which will immediately precede the course.
2. Establish an ongoing network for
global knowledge exchange and supportive interaction
among participants and faculty.
3. Transfer knowledge and technology
developed in conducting the initial short course to
devel-oping countries designated to host future International
AIDS Conferences
Sub objective: commission an external evaluation
of the course process and outcomes and recommend any
necessary modifications for future provision of the
course.
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Development
of the course
The course is being developed using
an interdisciplinary approach emphasizing interactive
learning and skills development. The course will also
establish an ongoing network for global knowledge exchange
and supportive interaction among participants and faculty,
which will seek to support participants in their ongoing
work.
After the course, the University of
Toronto will undertake to transfer knowledge and technology
developed in conducting the initial short course to
developing countries. The International AIDS Society
will establish a knowledge-sharing network to facilitate
communication between participants and faculty before,
during and after the course, including links to electronic
resources.
The course will include comprehensive
investigation of key themes. A rigorous evidence-based
curriculum will be designed by a team of educators and
research scientists, with all curriculum material being
peer reviewed. Key background materials will be provided
to participants in advance so that they can prepare
for the course. The course will be based on a model
of intensive reading and interactive problem solving
activities with limited lecture-based didactics. The
course size will be limited to 30 participants in order
to allow for effective interaction and group learning.
Case studies and examination of participants’ own areas
of concern will be utilized to put the learning experience
into a real life context.
The Course will also provide an opportunity
to synthesize the knowledge gained during attendance
of the XVI International AIDS Conference prior to the
course. The team of educators will review new evidence
presented at the Conference and incorporate these findings
into the curriculum as necessary.
The course will be designed to encourage
the development of linkages between participants themselves
and with faculty. This will enable ongoing support and
consultation with peers and international experts to
ensure the effective application of what has been learned
as well as supporting continuing learning and its application
to HIV/AIDS in participants’ countries. In addition
to the interactive structure of the teaching program,
special meals and socializing opportunities will be
included as part of the course activities to maximize
development of bonds between participants. The course
conveners will also pay attention to maintaining ongoing
contact with participants to provide updated information
and support relevant to their needs.
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Course
Outline
A web based survey was undertaken
in order to make sure that the course offered met the
precise needs of the managers. The pupose of the survey
was to get feedback from people in developing countries
who fit the profile of our intended participants - HIV
program manager and policy makers in the governments/institutions
or national level organizations. The survey provided
an insight into the aspects of course content which
they considered most and least relevant, and whether
any additonal topics need to be offered. A prilimnary
course outline after incorporating the suggestions from
the participants is availble below (click
here to download it in pdf format)
I. PRELIMINARY COURSE CURRICULUM
OUTLINE
| Introduction and Overview
of Course: What is Evidence? Discussion of Universal
Access to Prevention and Treatment as an Organizing
Principle. |
| - |
how is evidence
shaped and defined, particularly for the developing
world? |
| - |
how to assess a range of clinical,
epidemiological, social science/behavioural, operational
and policy research evidence that may have an impact
on policy development and programme implementation
in resource limited settings |
| - |
what is universal access to prevention
and care and what are the implications of this for
low income and transitional countries? |
| Monitoring, Surveillance,
Evaluation, and Operations Research |
| - |
determine how monitoring
and evaluation can be utilized as a progressive
tool to enhance programmes and outcomes. |
| - |
use of surveillance tools to
monitor epidemic and evaluate prevention strategies |
| - |
best practices and recent trends
in monitoring and evaluation, including the third
of the “Three Ones”: one national monitoring and
evaluation programme |
| - |
‘hands on’ opportunity to develop
monitoring and evaluation programme tools for participants |
| - |
prevention of HIV
in populations at high risk for HIV infection; targeted
prevention strategies and broader population approaches |
| - |
transmission dynamics, demography,
specific target populations and modeling to demonstrate
why these are important in prevention programming |
| - |
evaluation of the evidence gained
thus far in prevention and scaling up prevention
programming. |
| |
role and evidence of peer prevention
programs |
| - |
"mainstreaming" of
HIV services |
| Community Development
Practice |
| - |
engaging with the
community, involving communities/civil societies
in HIV prevention, care and treatment |
| - |
best practices/lessons learned in how to engage
communities in programme development in a variety
of settings |
| - |
implementation and evaluation |
| - |
effective consultation tools/methodologies for
use with diverse communities |
| Programme Funding, Management,
Coordination and Policy |
| - |
national AIDS
planning, coordination of a national AIDS authority,
implementation of “Three Ones”, engagement of
all stakeholders (partnership-building for knowledge
transfer) |
| - |
financial/donor procurement and management discussion |
| |
effective financial management and accountability
and management of programmes, core principles of
effective management; international standards for
programme management |
| - |
discussion on the use of results-based management
and other frameworks |
| Drugs and Commodities
Procurement Management Strategies/Best Practices;
Health Infrastructure |
| - |
commodity procurement
and management, including regulatory issues, quality
assurance, storage, distribution of antiretrovirals,
drugs for opportunistic infections, diagnostics |
| - |
challenges in organizing and
managing HIV/AIDS care in a range of resource-limited
countries |
| - |
human resources – training and
delivery models, including task shifting models,
community preparedness and adherence support methodologies |
| - |
special issues related to second
line regimens/salvage therapy, paediatrics, and
equity |
| Planning for new prevention
technologies, including PREP, microbicides and vaccines |
| - |
issues related to
integrating research and delivery of new prevention
technologies |
| - |
ethics, communications and engaging
the community in HIV clinical research |
| - |
understanding economic consequences
of HIV/AIDS and applying cost effectiveness analyses
in resource-limited settings |
| Gender Analysis of HIV
prevention and control |
| - |
the role of gender inequity in increasing
vulnerability to HIV infection: implications for
policy and programme development |
| Sociobehavioural, cultural
and political aspects |
| - |
analysis of qualitative and quantitative
research on sociobehavioural and cultural factors
determining HIV spread and control: |
| - |
stigma and discrimination |
| - |
evidence for successful approaches in addressing
these issues |
| Law, Ethics and Human
Rights |
| - |
current legal and
ethical aspects on gender, access to medications,
individual rights and public health |
| - |
drug policy and harm reduction,
discussion of specific populations |
| - |
what is the evidence linking
HIV with human security issues? |
| Challenges in translating
evidence into effective programming and policy:
|
| - |
applying evidence
in the context of the political, ideological, religious
and cultural constraints |
| - |
using case studies to discuss
effective negotiating opportunities in implementing
evidence-based HIV/AIDS programmes. |
II. COURSE TEACHING PROCESS:
The course will include comprehensive
investigation of key themes. A rigorous evidence-based
curriculum will be designed by a team of educators and
research scientists, with all curriculum material being
peer reviewed. Key background materials will be provided
to participants in advance so that they can prepare
for the course. The course will be based on a model
of intensive reading and interactive problem solving
activities with limited lecture-based didactics. The
course will also organize the faculty into panel discussions,
using case studies and examples of documented best practice.
The course size will be limited to 30 participants in
order to allow for effective interaction and group learning.
Case studies and examination of participants’ own areas
of concern will be utilized to put the learning experience
into a real life context.
The Course will also provide an opportunity to synthesize
the knowledge gained during attendance of the XVI International
AIDS Conference prior to the course. The team of educators
will review new evidence presented at the Conference
and incorporate these findings into the curriculum as
necessary. To make this “doable”, the course facilitators
will review the rapporteur reports from the final day
of the conference, along with the abstracts, and use
these as a basis for analysis and discussion.
The course will be designed to encourage the development
of linkages between participants themselves and with
faculty. This will enable ongoing support and consultation
with peers and international experts to ensure the effective
application of what has been learned as well as supporting
continuing learning and its application to HIV/AIDS
in participants’ countries. In addition to the interactive
structure of the teaching programme, special meals and
socializing opportunities will be included as part of
the course activities to maximize development of bonds
between participants. The course conveners, the CGHR/University
of Toronto and the IAS will also pay attention to maintaining
ongoing contact with participants to provide updated
information and support relevant to their needs.
Participants will be expected to
participate as part of a network in ongoing discussion
and feedback regarding their use of course tools and
materials and on implementing the knowledge gained from
the course within their own countries. The report-back
will be a formal part of the ongoing support for course
participants and ensure that feedback from participants
informs future course development. The University of
Toronto Centre for Global Health Research and IAS will
provide technical support and coordination of report-back
activities through an intranet or other interactive
communications mechanism.
III. MONITORING, EVALUATION AND DISSEMINATION:
An external evaluator will be
commissioned to examine the processes and outcomes for
the course, including how participants are able to use
the course upon return to their own countries and the
impact this has. The evaluator will make recommendations
to enable dissemination of optimal approaches to future
provision of the course and address issues of course
follow-up.
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Application
for the course
This short, intensive five-day course
for up to thirty people will emphasize interactive learning
with an outstanding international and multidisciplinary
faculty. The small group size will maximize the concentrated
program and individual access to faculty.
Applicant Screening: The course will
give priority to managers and policy makers from low
income developing countries in Africa, Asia, and the
Caribbean who are responsible for programs of HIV prevention
and treatment, and for related policy. A selection process
will be developed which will involve screening of applicants
through a brief web-based application form. The course
is not designed to train clinicians or epidemiologists
and the proposed screening process will assist in ensuring
that the course is given to those who will benefit most
and apply it most effectively. It will also be necessary
to limit the number of participants from a single country
in order to maximize distribution of benefits and to
enhance the development of global networks.
APPLICATIONS
FOR SHORT COURSE ON EVIDENCE-BASED HIV/AIDS PROGRAMMES ARE NOW CLOSED
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