In the coming five years, billions of dollars of new funds will join the fight against global AIDS. These funds will be allocated by a relatively small and identifiable group of AIDS professionals around the world. One important component of allocation decisions will be experience to date: which interventions are and are not working in different regions of the world?
Unfortunately, there currently is no cogent compilation of global AIDS research by intervention type or region. Policymakers are left to base funding decisions on anecdote and extrapolation. What is needed is a new research initiative, the Global Research Map. The initiative will combine a comprehensive literature categorization with supplemental surveys to produce a topography of global AIDS research.
The Global Research Map is meant to provide important information to all policymakers deciding resource allocations. It also will serve as one component of a global effectiveness monitoring system that is required as significant new resources flow into AIDS programs in the coming months. The goal would be to have policymakers around the world regularly consulting and supplementing the map to better rationalize the global response to AIDS.
An initiative could proceed in three phases.
• First, an initial map could be developed based on the research archives of one or more large sites such as the
IAEN, comprising roughly 1000 studies and related documents. While the initial map will be incomplete, it should be sufficient to identify key trends and gaps and also to elicit researcher feedback. Initial results would be posted widely (and potentially at a dedicated URL such as AIDSGlobalResearch.org).
• Second, members of the IAEN and other networks would be encouraged to supplement the map through normal feedback channels. In addition a small grants program will be instituted targeting those quadrants requiring greatest attention.
• Finally, the initiative would be expanded to provide each quadrant with a homepage (for example, “blood safety in Africa” or “workplace education in Latin America”) which will include the synthesized research for the quadrant as well as other related resources, a professional directory, and potentially guide-led discussions.
Here is a
longer description of the research map concept, including a nice diagram of what such a map might look like.
The Global Research Map is simple in concept, difficult in implementation, and vital in better informing global priorities. There is no comparable, widely-accessible mechanism like this currently. I believe it could have rapid and tangible impact on the global AIDS response.
