In 1999, RTI researchers crossed the geographical boundaries of 105 countries to conduct projects focusing on education, health, energy, finance, and pharmaceutical and device economics. RTI opened an office in Manchester, England, to provide a springboard for business expansion in Europe centered around health-related research. To effectively assist local populations, RTI maintained project offices in Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Croatia, El Salvador, England, Ethiopia, Republic of Guinea, Indonesia, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and Ukraine. Besides its work in education reform, municipal finance management, and hydrogen-powered fuel cells, RTI began major research efforts to curb the global resurgence of tuberculosis and to prevent the global spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Education Reform
For the past decade, RTI researchers helped South Africa reform its educational system from one governed by an apartheid government to one that provides an equal education opportunity for all South Africans.This year, RTI researchers worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the South African Department of Education to improve educational management, quality assurance, and funding systems at school, district, and national levels. RTI also is assisting with educational efforts in Ethiopia, Haiti, Swaziland, Bulgaria, Poland, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam. In the United States, RTI is collaborating with the Southern Regional Education Board on a U.S. Department of Education project to design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive model for school reform in middle and secondary grades. The project goal is to raise student achievement by strengthening schools and making curricula more rigorous.

Municipal Finance
RTI researchers are working with Indonesia's Ministry of Finance to strengthen the country's municipal system. They are helping the government of Indonesia expand financial resources available to municipalities, enhance the management of existing financial resources, and develop financing mechanisms for urban infrastructure. In El Salvador, RTI is working to increase participation in the local democratic process and make municipalities more responsive to their constituents. In Bulgaria, RTI's technical assistance is designed to strengthen transparent and participatory local government, and to work with municipal associations and the Foundation for Local Government Reform. For USAID's Democracy and Governance Center and Missions, RTI helped develop conceptual frameworks for democratic decentralization and implemented field projects that foster better local governance.

Global HIV Prevention
Recognizing that disease does not respect national boundaries, the National Institute of Mental Health funded the Collaborative HIV/STD Prevention Trial. RTI is serving as the data coordinating center for the trial, which includes prevention initiatives in China, Uganda, Peru, Russia, and India. The goal is to implement public health behavior change initiatives among high-risk populations in all five countries, measure the results, document the lessons learned, and share that information to help build a global perspective on preventing the spread of HIV/STDs.

Tuberculosis Treatment
At the end of fiscal 1999, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded RTI a $5.9 million, 7-year contract to accelerate the commercial availability of new tuberculosis treatments developed at the National Institutes of Health, universities, and nonprofit laboratories. In 2000, RTI will conduct three types of analyses: epidemiological analyses to assess global tuberculosis trends, business analyses to assess the market, and technical analyses to document the potential of candidate compounds. RTI also will promote promising compounds to the pharmaceutical industry.

Hydrides
For the U.S. Army Research Office, RTI chemical engineers and their collaborators in Moscow are developing a portable hydrogen generator. They are making aluminum-hydride cartridges that produce a self-sustaining reaction that yields hydrogen. This is a near-perfect fuel that, when converted to energy, leaves water as the only by-product. When the cartridges are combined with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell, the result is an energy source that is more reliable, lighter weight, and longer-lived than batteries. The RTI/Russian team developed a prototype of the device in 1999 and will continue its development in 2000.