UAB Efforts Improve Public Health Globally

The John J. Sparkman Center for International Public Health Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will help train healthcare professionals in China, India and Russia to evaluate programs aimed at preventing sexually transmitted and other infectious diseases. The training initiatives are part of UAB's AIDS International Training and Research Program, which recently received $150,000 from the John E. Fogarty International Center, an arm of the National Institutes of Health. The Sparkman Center will contribute an additional $43,000.

February 22, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The John J. Sparkman Center for International Public Health Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will help train healthcare professionals in China, India and Russia to evaluate programs aimed at preventing sexually transmitted and other infectious diseases. The training initiatives are part of UAB's AIDS International Training and Research Program, which recently received $150,000 from the John E. Fogarty International Center, an arm of the National Institutes of Health. The Sparkman Center will contribute an additional $43,000.

UAB's collaborating partners for the initiatives are the Shandong Medical University in Shandong Province, China; the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and Medical College in Mumbai, India; and the Infectious Disease Hospital in Moscow, Russia.

In China and India, UAB School of Public Health faculty will train physicians and epidemiologists in research methods to evaluate sexually transmitted disease (STD) programs, including AIDS prevention programs. Dr. Maurizio Macaluso will direct the initiative in China, and Dr. Eknath Niak will lead efforts in India.

In Russia, UAB faculty will train hospital staff members in the development and use of an infectious diseases surveillance system. The new surveillance system will allow medical officials to track infectious diseases, better project hospital and public health needs and initiate new infectious diseases research. UAB's Howard Wiener, Ph.D., will guide the initiative.

“This is an excellent example of how our center can leverage outside funds to further its international education mission,” says Dr. Sten Vermund, director of the Sparkman Center.

“Working with our public health partners around the globe strengthens public health at home," says Eli Capilouto, D.D.M., dean of UAB's School of Public Health. "At a time when three million people are crossing international borders everyday, nobody is safe from disease unless everyone is safe.”

The Sparkman Center, a federally endowed center, works with academic institutions, international agencies and health ministries to implement training and education programs to help solve health problems in developing countries. Presently, the Sparkman Center is reviewing sites for possible long-term collaborations. Individuals with established relationships in developing countries that may serve as resources for possible long-term collaborations are asked to contact the Sparkman Center at (205) 975-7693 or by e-mail at skh@uab.edu.