# The UNC-UNZA-Wits Partnership for HIV and Women's Reproductive Health

> **NIH NIH D43** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $301,854

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Women face an unacceptability high burden of morbidity and mortality in most low- and middle-income
countries; in sub-Saharan Africa, this burden is further intensified by a generalized HIV epidemic. The
intersection of HIV and women’s reproductive health (WRH) is an important field of investigation, one with
pressing scientific questions and potential for broad impact. In this application, we propose the UNC-UNZA-
Wits Partnership for HIV and Women’s Reproductive Health to help meet the urgent need for HIV research in
pregnancy, contraception, and cervical cancer. We leverage ongoing connections between the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), the University of Zambia (UNZA), and the University of the Witwatersrand
(Wits) to strategically build research capacity in Zambia. Our key innovation is the structure of North-South and
South-South collaborations upon which this program will be founded. We employ a forward-thinking approach
to capacity building that considers the evolving academic landscape at UNZA, including the founding of a new
School of Public Health and a new university-wide Centre for Women’s Health Research. Our overarching goal
is to develop a cadre of UNZA faculty researchers who are independently funded to conduct collaborative,
multidisciplinary research in HIV and WRH. We propose two specific aims. First, we will provide training
opportunities for Zambian investigators at the doctoral and postdoctoral level. We will support doctoral training
for five promising candidates, employing an interdisciplinary hybrid PhD program in which students complete
coursework at Wits and dissertation research at UNZA. We will also support five postdoctoral fellows, based in
Zambia, for 12 months at a time. All trainees will receive intensive and structured mentorship from an
experienced team of US, South African, and Zambian faculty. They will be assigned to ongoing HIV and WRH
studies in Lusaka, leveraging these independently funded research platforms to embed their own laboratory,
clinical, epidemiologic, and/or implementation studies. Second, we will invest resources in the professional
development of current UNZA faculty members. Every year, we will support two faculty to complete targeted
methodological short courses at the Wits School of Public Health (10 in total). We will also support faculty
research through capacity building grants. Competitively awarded, these small grants will be designed to
provide strategic investment in methodological training, technical skills building, and/or equipment to enhance
UNZA’s overall research capabilities. Our program leadership is deeply committed in research capacity
building in Zambia and has a strong understanding of the training environment. We are uniquely positioned to
oversee a project of this scope given our strong field presence: six of seven key personnel (including the
contact PI) are based full-time in either South Africa or Zambia. Our training program is d...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10163282
- **Project number:** 5D43TW010558-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Benjamin H. Chi
- **Activity code:** D43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $301,854
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-06-26 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10163282

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10163282, The UNC-UNZA-Wits Partnership for HIV and Women's Reproductive Health (5D43TW010558-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10163282. Licensed CC0.

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