Project Summary/ Abstract: The Republic of Mozambique, a Portuguese-speaking country of 28 million people on the southeast coast of Africa, has experienced significant economic growth and distinct progress in improving health indicators over the past two decades. Since the end of a devastating civil war in 1992, health has been a government priority, particularly in response to the crushing burden of HIV/AIDS (the 2015 national prevalence was estimated at 13.2% among adults aged 15-49 years). The UN’s 2018 Human Development Index ranks Mozambique 180th out of the world’s 189 countries. While national efforts to expand HIV health care service delivery have focused on strengthening community- based and regional clinics, there has simultaneously been significant targeted investment to build infrastructure and human capacity in HIV research, innovation, and health education. Medical research, including epidemiologic and health services research, has grown dramatically. This growth has stemmed from both international collaborative projects, such as our current D43 Partnership for Research in Implementation Science- Mozambique (PRISM) award between the Faculty of Medicine at University Eduardo Mondale (UEM) and the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and also from Mozambique’s increased emphasis on research as a key component of professional and graduate education in biomedical sciences and public health. Through this renewal application we seek to substantially build upon the groundwork laid by the PRISM collaboration for HIV implementation science research capacity at UEM, Mozambique´s principal medical school. With the strong academic foundation established through PRISM, we now focus on further strengthening UEM´s local HIV implementation science research capacity and will support UEM over the next five years to assume full ownership of this program. We will maximize opportunities in our newly created cohort of PRISM alumni with Master´s level experience in HIV implementation science as well as the newly launched UEM Faculty of Medicine Implementation Science Unit, leveraging resources to provide doctoral studies via an enhanced UEM PhD program for four scholars as well as four faculty fellowships so that all may achieve the academic requirements needed to become successful independent researchers. Our Specific Aims are to 1) Train PhD scientists from UEM in HIV implementation science research and strengthen the UEM PhD program; 2) Solidify the UEM Faculty of Medicine Implementation Science Unit as a Center of Excellence in Implementation Science training and research; and 3) Expand opportunities for the conduct of HIV implementation science research by capacitating two Mozambican HIV research institutions/field sites (Aurum-Mozambique and the Center for Health Research-Manhiça [CISM]).

Project Narrative: The Partnership for Research in Implementation Science- Mozambique (PRISM), a collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine at University Eduardo Mondale (UEM) in Maputo, Mozambique and the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), will build upon successes of its first five-year period to continue developing HIV implementation science research capacity at UEM. The present proposal has been developed jointly with the leadership of UEM to respond to their current desire to evolve the institution's pool of Master´s level researchers to the doctoral level, as well as continue further development of the newly created Implementation Science Unit formed to create new opportunities for the conduct of meaningful and high-quality HIV implementation science research at UEM at beyond.