Better policies and less infectious diseases in Peru and Latin America (FA5 PERU)

The Instituto de Medicina Tropical “Alexander von Humboldt” (IMTAVH) is a national and regional referral centre ininfectious diseases with special expertise in public health concerns such as malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis,dengue, HTLV-1, COVID-19 and bacterial diseases alongside antimicrobial resistance. Through its longstandingpartnership with ITM, the IMTAVH has been able to reach a robust critical mass of scientists involved in research andteaching. However, it still holds a limited reach to translate its research into national guidelines, protocols andmeasures. This multidisciplinary proposal aims to contribute to better health policies and services. The programme wants to dothis through improved education and research practices, improved services to society, knowledge translation intopractice and strengthened networks. This will lead to better prevention and control of infectious diseases in Peru andin the Latin American region, by increasing the availability of more and better evidence and the decision maker'swillingness to use it. To achieve this goal, we will provide scholarships to top-tier educational programmes in infectious disease control andmolecular epidemiology to Peruvian regional applicants and personnel working in key positions within the healthsector. We will expand our research capacities by developing new research platforms and including next-generationsequencing and Eco Health research. We will also translate our research into policy briefs targeted to decision makersand pursue synergies with key stakeholders, institutions and key collaborators, striving for the conduction of high-impact research that can benefit multiple nations. By organizing annual colloquiums, we expect to foster and nurturenational and international partnerships to continue to expand the reach of our results.