Promotion of couples' voluntary counselling and testing for HIV through influential networks in two African capital cities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Most new HIV infections in Africa are acquired from cohabiting heterosexual partners. Couples' Voluntary Counselling and Testing (CVCT) is an effective prevention strategy for this group. We present our experience with a community-based program for the promotion of CVCT in Kigali, Rwanda and Lusaka, Zambia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Influence Network Agents (INAs) from the health, religious, non-governmental, and private sectors were trained to invite couples for CVCT. Predictors of successful promotion were identified using a multi-level hierarchical analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 4 months, 9,900 invitations were distributed by 61 INAs, with 1,411 (14.3%) couples requesting CVCT. INAs in Rwanda distributed fewer invitations (2,680 vs. 7,220) and had higher response rates (26.9% vs. 9.6%), than INAs in Zambia. Context of the invitation event, including a discreet location such as the INA's home (OR 3.3–3.4), delivery of the invitation to both partners in the couple (OR 1.6–1.7) or to someone known to the INA (OR 1.7–1.8), and use of public endorsement (OR 1.7–1.8) were stronger predictors of success than INA or couple-level characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Predictors of successful CVCT promotion included strategies that can be easily implemented in Africa. As new resources become available for Africans with HIV, CVCT should be broadly implemented as a point of entry for prevention, care and support.</p

Lessons from establishing and managing multi-institution centres of research excellence

Aims and rationale: Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI) funded nine multi-institution centres of research excellence (MICREs) to address knowledge gaps in primary health care. Anecdotal evidence suggested that these MICREs were experiencing common problems. A study was conducted to document the challenges experienced and lessons learned by directors and managers of the nine MICREs to inform future such initiatives. The preliminary findings from the study will be presented and discussed. Methods: Qualitative interviews with Directors and Managers of the nine MICREs funded by APHCRI and other informants. Findings: Challenges were experienced in the domains of relationships (e.g. communication, investigator engagement, role clarification) and administrative process (e.g. budgeting and recruiting positions at different institutions, partner agreements). Analysis of the challenges identified: 1) that most of the challenges could have been prevented during grant preparation, 2) the importance of relationships and collaborative leadership, and 3) the need for a sufficiently experienced, skilled and resourced coordinator to manage the added complexity of a MICRE relative to a research centre based in a single institution. Relevance to policy, research and/or practice needs: The results from this study provide information to assist 1) researchers in preparing their grant application to establish a MICRE; 2) MICRE coordinators in the management of their MICRE; and 3) MICRE funding bodies in the development of requirements and information for applicants

Research Administration Managers and Research Project Managers – playing a key role in establishing and managing multi-institutional collaborations

Aims and rationale: The Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute funded nine multi-institution centres of research excellence (MICRE) to address knowledge gaps in primary health care. Anecdotal evidence suggested that these MICREs were experiencing common problems in their establishment and operation. The study aimed to document the challenges and lessons from the nine MICREs to inform future planning of MICREs. Methods: Qualitative interviews with the directors and managers of the nine MICRES and other key informants. Findings: Challenges were experienced in the domains of administrative processes (e.g. budgeting, recruitment, partner agreements) and relationships (e.g. communication, investigator engagement, role clarification). Two main issues were identified. 1) That most of the problems could have been prevented during grant preparation; and 2) That the research administration manager at each collaborating institution in the MICRE during grant preparation, and the appointment of a sufficiently experienced, skilled and resourced MICRE manager are critical to ensure efficient administrative processes during the life of the MICRE. The lessons learned from this study have been incorporated into a ‘tips’ document which will be made available to assist researchers, research administration managers, and MICRE managers from inception to completion. This document also provides ‘tips’ to MICRE funding bodies for developing Information for Applicants documents. Conclusion: MICREs are more complicated and vulnerable to establishment and management problems than single-institution research centres. The contributions of the research administration manager (or equivalent at each collaborating institution), and the MICRE manager can facilitate the achievement of an efficient and effective research partnership

Ab Initio Modelling of the Structure of ToxA-like and MAX Fungal Effector Proteins

Pathogenic fungal diseases in crops are mediated by the release of effector proteins that facilitate infection. Characterising the structure of these fungal effectors is vital to understanding their virulence mechanisms and interactions with their hosts, which is crucial in the breeding of plant cultivars for disease resistance. Several effectors have been identified and validated experimentally; however, their lack of sequence conservation often impedes the identification and prediction of their structure using sequence similarity approaches. Structural similarity has, nonetheless, been observed within fungal effector protein families, creating interest in validating the use of computational methods to predict their tertiary structure from their sequence. We used Rosetta ab initio modelling to predict the structures of members of the ToxA-like and MAX effector families for which experimental structures are known to validate this method. An optimised approach was then used to predict the structures of phenotypically validated effectors lacking known structures. Rosetta was found to successfully predict the structure of fungal effectors in the ToxA-like and MAX families, as well as phenotypically validated but structurally unconfirmed effector sequences. Interestingly, potential new effector structural families were identified on the basis of comparisons with structural homologues and the identification of associated protein domains

The relationship between training farmers in agronomic practices and diet diversification: a case study from an intervention under the Scaling Up Nutrition programme in Zambia

BACKGROUND: Agricultural production systems are a sustainable way of providing nutritious and diversified foods especially among rural households in developing countries. Capacity building of farmers and extension workers through training on agricultural and nutrition-related topics is one of the ways to improvements in agricultural productivity. However, a few studies have shown there is a link between training in agronomic practices and crop diversification and the effect this relationship has on diet diversity. Therefore, this study was carried out in Zambia in four districts and within those districts intervention (N = 348) areas were compared to nonintervention sites (N = 194) using an individual household questionnaire to investigate the effectiveness of training sessions that were conducted under the Most 1000 Critical Days program, the scaling up of nutrition on farm production diversity and diet diversity at household level. RESULTS: The results show that there were significant differences in the proportion of farmer households that grew different types of crops (P &lt; 0.001). The incorporation of legumes such as soybean, groundnut and beans into crop production may enrich household diets with essential macro- and micronutrients. Results further indicate that training on agronomic practices was associated with increased productivity and diversification of production and dietary intake. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that targeted interventions aimed at increasing food crop production and dietary diversity have the potential to improve food production and dietary diversity. These findings reinforce the premise that crop diversification has a positive correlation with diet quality. Similarly, training farmers on food production, processing and dietary diversification is critical not only in improving agronomic practices but also the diet of farmers