SAN DIEGO (CNS) - UC San Diego has received a $38 million federal award for a five-year global health study to research and promote the voices of low- and middle-income people within their communities and within health and development programming, it was announced Monday.
The award from the U.S. Agency for International Development is the largest ever given to UCSD by USAID, a 61-year-old federal program created by President John F. Kennedy to advance humanitarian efforts, reduce poverty and encourage sustained economic and social development throughout the world.
The project, "Agency for All," is intended to address multiple dimensions of health and well-being, including maternal and child health, infectious disease, HIV/AIDS, family planning and reproductive health. The program will work with populations across the globe, with a focus on Africa and South Asia.
The Center on Gender Equity and Health at UCSD's School of Medicine and Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science will lead the international, multi-institutional study.
"This is a spectacular moment," said UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla. "With this award, UC San Diego can lead in using research to address important social and health issues that result in beneficial change and new policies that make the world a better place."
The Center on Gender Equity and Health will coordinate research and implement solutions, informed by local priorities and agendas, said Rebecka Lundgren, an applied anthropologist and associate professor of infectious diseases and global public health, who will serve as project director.
"`Agency for All' will look at the complex questions of `agency,' and what that means for different people, organizations and systems around the world, as well as for our own consortium partners," Lundgren said. "We are honored to bring together a global consortium of world class researchers and implementers to discover what works to convert intention into action within social and behavior change programs and make it work for real people."
The initiative will concentrate on three geographical areas or hubs in East Africa, West Africa and South Asia, collaborating with specific organizations and networks in those regions, a UCSD statement said.
These partners include the Centre for Catalyzing Change in India, Evidence for Sustainable Human Development Systems in Africa in Cameroon, Makerere University in Uganda, Matchboxology in South Africa, Sambodhi in India, Shujaaz, Inc. in Kenya, University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, CORE Group, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Promundo-US, Save the Children and Viamo.
"These locally led partnerships are critical," said Paul Bukuluki, director of research for Agency for All and an associate professor at Makerere University. "We hope to develop context-specific mechanisms for measuring agency, and more effectively evaluate the approaches that help us improve the quality of life of women and men at the margins of society."
