The Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) and UNC Global Women’s Health announce the first two PhD graduates of the UNC-UNZA-Wits Partnership for HIV and Women’s Reproductive Health Training Program, led by co-principal investigators Carla Chibwesha, MD, MSc, and Benjamin Chi, MD, MSc, in Global Women’s Health.
Funded by the Fogarty International Center, part of the National Institutes of Health, this multi-disciplinary training program seeks to develop research capacity at the intersection of HIV and women’s reproductive health. The program fosters positive and lasting change in the Zambian health sector, by leveraging longstanding collaborations between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Zambia, and the University of the Witwatersrand.
The program sponsors PhD training at the University of Witwatersrand for promising Zambian faculty at the University of Zambia. This includes dedicated coursework in Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by research projects in HIV and women’s reproductive health based in Lusaka, Zambia. Altogether, seven individuals have been supported, currently at various stages of their training.
Mwansa “Ketty” Lubeya, MBChB, MMed, PhD, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the University of Zambia, studied prevention and access to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in adolescent girls, examining the factors that influence vaccine implementation by providers, and acceptance by adolescent girls. Applying a behavioral and implementation science framework, her dissertation provides insights into strategies that can improve HPV vaccine uptake. She was supervised by Dr. Chibwesha, Mary Kawonga, MBChB, PhD (University of the Witwatersrand) and Mulindi Mwanahamuntu, MBChB, MMed (Zambia University Teaching Hospitals).
Twaambo Hamoonga, MPH, PhD, a faculty researcher at the University of Zambia School of Public Health, studied HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis during pregnancy and breastfeeding. She investigated common beliefs about PrEP and preferences for service delivery, using a mixed methods approach. Her research showed that male partner support, positive healthcare provider attitudes and multi-month prescribing of PrEP, improved demand for PrEP in antenatal and postnatal settings. Her mentors included Dr. Chi, Wilbroad Mutale, MBChB, PhD (University of Zambia), and Jude Igumbor, PhD (University of Witwatersrand).
Both projects are aligned with the priorities of the Zambia Ministry of Health and will inform programs and policies at the national level. At the same time, these findings represent generalizable knowledge that will help to improve the health of women elsewhere in the Africa region and beyond.
Dr. Carla Chibwesha, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, says completion of the PhD degree represents an important career milestone for any Zambian academician.
“We congratulate Drs. Lubeya and Hamoonga for their hard work and perseverance, and we look forward to their continued collaboration with UNC faculty and learners in the years to come,” said Dr. Chibwesha.
Dr. Benjamin Chi says the Zambian scientists have contributed to the understanding of HIV and HIV-related co-morbidities in women’s reproductive health through an important collaboration.
“The work of these scientists shows how UNC’s global partnerships can build valuable research capacity for present and future learners, in ways that generate knowledge and advance science in meaningful ways,” said Chi, the Annie Louise Wilkerson MD ’36 Distinguished Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director for the Office of Fellowships and Training, Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases.
ABOUT
The Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases (IGHID) is a platform for UNC’s interdisciplinary global research in the health sciences, with faculty members representing all health sciences at Carolina. In 2012, IGHID recruited the internationally recognized global women’s health team of Zambian obstetrician-gynecologists, which included Carla Chibwesha and Benjamin Chi. Now UNC Project-Zambia is one of five global projects in a flagship line of sites where research, training and service are advancing global health.