The University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ at Boulder will receive $870,000 over the next four years to study the impact of HIV and AIDS on people living in sub-Saharan Africa, including children and the elderly.
The new Population Aging Center will be directed by sociology Professor Jane Menken, director of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Dramatic drops in life expectancy in parts of Africa due to HIV are wiping out all the gains in health of the past half-century," Menken said. "The need for good data to track changes in the population is urgent for understanding and for planning ways to combat the spread and impact of the disease."
The center will be funded by the National Institute on Aging, using money earmarked for HIV-AIDS research.
The center will focus on assembling statistical data that tracks mortality, fertility and the age structure of population, Menken said. Initially it will focus on the effects of HIV and AIDS on the elderly, children and the family; making better estimates of HIV infection; and the impact of AIDS-related population changes on people in the area.
The center also will study the impact of intervention programs and will support AIDS-related work on disadvantaged populations in other regions.
ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder faculty members from a variety of disciplines will be involved in the program including Charles Becker, Terrance McCabe, Judith McCabe, James Huff, Robert McNown, Fred Pampel, Andrei Rogers, Richard Rogers and Rachel Silvey.
Menken, who joined the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥-Boulder faculty in 1997, teaches and conducts research on issues of women and fertility. She was formerly a faculty member at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, and also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
She received the prestigious title of distinguished professor from the ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Board of Regents on March 21. Menken teaches undergraduate courses on women, development and fertility and population issues. She also teaches a graduate course on research methods in sociology.
Menken is chair of the Committee on Population for the National Academy of Sciences, which is examining how the world will deal with the increasing longevity and aging of the global population. The committee also is working on ways to more accurately forecast future population size and characteristics.
Menken has authored more than 90 publications and is the author or editor of four books. She has served on advisory committees to the National Institutes of Health, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mellon Foundation and frequently acts as a consultant and collaborator to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh.