Paracas: Program For Advanced Research Capacities For AIDS In Peru

The overall aim of our Program for Advanced ReseArch Capacities for AIDS in Peru (PARACAS) is to consolidate a mature HIV research training framework at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), in which outstanding young or mid-career health researchers will reach scientific autonomy by providing sound evidence for the implementation of optimized and efficient care models that comprehensibly address the fact that HIV is rather a chronic, prolonged condition. Undeniably, health services should foster earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in parallel to increasing retention in care of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), as this combination preserves and benefits individual and community health. In that regard, PARACAS' trainees will propose intervention strategies built upon a comprehensive analysis that considers biomedical aspects and multidimensional perspectives related with the processes of entry and retention in care, such as the perspectives of PLWHA (adult, adolescents, and children), of their families, their communities, and the health staff.