Working to Advance
Health Equity in Africa

ABOUT THE SPEAKER Jane Freedman is Professor at the Université Paris 8 and member of the Centre de Recherches Sociologiques et Politiques de Paris (CRESPPA). Her research focuses on issues related to gender, gender-based violence, migration and sexual and reproductive health and rights. She has published widely on these topics and recent books include Gender-Based Violence in Migration: Interdisciplinary, Feminist and Intersectional Approaches (Springer, 2022); Gender, Equality and Social Justice: Anti Trafficking, Sex Work and Migration Law and Policy in th...

New SRHR Report Just Published

A new reality is now emerging. In many countries on the continent there is evidence that expanding health care coverage does not necessarily result in better health outcomes, even for conditions that can be treated by health care. After several decades of gains in reducing child mortality and deaths from infectious diseases, the residual mortality in sub- Saharan African countries consists of more complex and multimorbid conditions that cannot be addressed simply by expanding access to low-quality health systems. Expansion in coverage must also be accompanied by i...

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Dr Aantjes is a senior research fellow at HEARD with a focus on SRHR and health system strengthening. Carolien has over 25 years of international experience in the field of HIV and public health and has worked, among others, for the Ministry of Health in Namibia as a coordinator of a regional AIDS programme and as a public health nurse for the municipal health services of Amsterdam. She undertook many short-term consultancy assignments in Africa and Asia before moving into the academic space. Since 2015, she has been engaged in HEARD’s inte...

Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information & Services in Malawi

Professor Gavin George seated to the left of the Malawian Minister of Health, the Hon. Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda along with colleagues from the APHRC and UNESCO. In 2020, researchers from the Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at UKZN, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Kenya, and the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Malawi formed a partnership to conduct a problem-based political economy analysis (PB-PEA) of adolescents' access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services in Mal...

Regional Symposium on Intersectional Stigma and Access to HIV Services for Young Key populations living with HIV in the SADC region

Delegates from the Ministries of Health, KP networks, KP service providers, SADC secretariat and the research team HEARD recently hosted a symposium titled “Exploring the influence of intersectional stigma on access to HIV services for key populations living with HIV in the SADC region – a regional symposium”. The symposium, which was held from 3-5 April 2023 in Durban, was designed to share results of current research and plan future steps for a three-year research project funded by SADC HIV secretariat. The research and intervention study on Stigma and...

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Prof Gavin George is a Programme Leader at the Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. He has a background in economics and has carried out social and behavioural research across East and Southern Africa for over 20 years. This work has been undertaken for UN agencies, governments and funding entities, among others. Dr Phiwe Nota is a Postdoctoral Fellow at HEARD. Her academic training and research experience have provided her with an excellent background in mu...

2023 PhD Scholarship Call

HEARD is delighted to announce that applications are now open for our 2023 PhD Scholarship opportunity call.The aim of our PhD programme is to produce expertly qualified graduates to advise or to be part of influential policy-making or programme implementing entities in Africa, and to pursue additional research priorities. The scholarship is intended to support full-time PhD study at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Applications are invited from citizens of all African countries. Female candidates and, in the case of South Africa, those from previously disadvantag...

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Mr Mike Strauss is a Health Economist and Researcher at the Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He has been involved in a number of research projects examining the demand for health services using discrete choice experiments to better understand preferences of patients for a range of health services. Professor Gavin George is a Programme Leader at the Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, Sou...

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY Dr Sarah Khanakwa is a Ugandan public health manager and health financing expert, with more than 15 years' experience in setting up, managing and providing technical assistance to public health programs, in the fields of communicable diseases, reproductive, maternal, adolescent and child health. Her core areas of expertise include: health financing, health systems strengthening, new business development, strategic project planning, project management and implementation, monitoring & evaluation, research organizational capacity building and k...

PRESENTATION OUTLINE: Health technology assessment (HTA) uses a multidisciplinary approach to support priority-setting for the health benefits package design. The evidence-informed deliberative process (EDP) framework has been used alongside HTA to enhance the legitimacy, transparency, and accountability of priority-setting. The application of EDP and HTA for the sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) benefits package is critical due to the latter’s pluralistic social value decision-making ecosystem. However, this evidence has not been curated in sub-Sah...