Meeting Report
HIV/AIDS and Drug Use:
Building Research Collaboration in Asia
Meeting supported by the
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Fogarty International Center
In partnership with the Hanoi Medical
University
November 15-18, 2010
Hanoi, Vietnam
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Fogarty
International Center (FIC) share a common interest in enhancing research
development in HIV prevention, treatment, and care in Asia. From
November 15 to November 18, 2010, these two organizations, in partnership with
the Hanoi Medical
University, brought
together participants from across the region to address challenges to
implementing research. The conference, HIV/AIDS and Drug Use: Building Research
Collaboration in Asia, held in Hanoi,
Vietnam, identified
the need for increased collaboration among researchers, clinical practitioners,
and multiple stakeholders (both government and donor agencies).
In Asia, an estimated 4 million
drug users are HIV positive, which is among the highest HIV infection rates in
the world. Injection drug use remains the primary driver of the HIV epidemic in
the region. However, both long-term and more recent changes in patterns of drug
use and HIV transmission, tied to new forms of regional economic development
and migration, highlight the rapidly shifting dynamics of the twin epidemics of
drug use and HIV throughout Asia. The connectedness
of the regional epidemic reveals as well the shared challenges faced by
national responses and the needs and opportunities for a coordinated
multinational strategy for improved prevention and treatment programs for drug
users.
The conference drew researchers, program representatives, and
policymakers from across Asia to set
priorities for future research, to address challenges to implementing research
and research findings in programmatic activities, and to identify opportunities
for cross-national collaboration.
Conference objectives were to:
Enhance research development in
the region through networking among researchers with common interests in
prevention, treatment, and care from eight Asian countries (Vietnam, China,
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand,
Burma, Malaysia, and Indonesia)
in collaboration with U.S.
researchers.
Link current research and
program implementation and evaluation results from the Asian region with
programmatic activities, including those supported by the U.S. President's Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Global Fund, and others, in individual countries.
Provide information on current
and former research activities in the region, as well as on U.S. National
Institutes of Health and other Federal government opportunities for research, research
training, and program implementation and evaluation.
Download PDF: http://him.civiblog.org/_attachments/4769048/hanoi%20drug%20meeting%20report.pdf
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