Dar es Salaam in Tanzania . . . South Africa . . . The Netherlands. These are a few of the far-flung places where The University of Texas School of Public Health has ongoing training and research programs.

Through collaboration with other countries, the UT School of Public Health is committed to helping develop public health programs and conducting research that address international global health issues. Here are some of the school's current projects:

Heroin use in Dar es Salaam in East Africa is the subject of a study by Sheryl McCurdy, Ph.D., assistant professor of behavioral sciences; Mark Williams, Ph.D., professor of behavioral sciences; and Michael Ross, Ph.D., professor of behavioral sciences.

There is evidence that heroin injection has been introduced into Dar es Salaam in the past five to six years and that it has spread throughout the city from the port and red-light districts. In some areas, HIV rates in heroin users are extremely high. The project, funded by the National Institutes of
Health, involves taking detailed quantitative and qualitative histories of the abusers.

Researcher Kay Bartholomew, Ed.D., M.P.H., associate professor of health promotion/health education, is working on three student projects as Visiting Professor of Health Education

and Health Promotion at the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands. The position is part of an inter-institutional agreement between The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston and the University of Maastricht, with faculty collaborating on research projects and doctoral student supervision.

One of Bartholomew's students is studying the effects of lymphatic filariasis on the lives of women in the Dominican Republic and

Ghana. Lymphatic filariasis is a mosquito-transmitted parasitic disease estimated to be a leading cause of permanent disability worldwide. Another student is helping nurses in South Africa counsel patients with sexually transmitted infections reduce their sexual risk behaviors. The third student is working with Cystic Fibrosis Worldwide in Georgia, a former country in the Soviet Union. The project is aimed at improving cystic fibrosis treatment in developing countries.