Affiliates

Beatrice Mkubwa

PhD fellow at the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University
PhD Focus – Mental health of children and adolescents
Funded by the SPARK programme affiliated to the ALMA programme

Ms. Mkubwa is pursuing a doctorate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands). Her project focuses on improving the mental health of children and adolescents in Kenya. She is using a program called the Mental Health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG), developed by the World Health Organization. Specifically, she is working on adapting and testing a module called ‘Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioural Disorders (CMHs)’ to fit Kenya’s needs.

The project involves three main steps:

1. Adapting the CMHs module: Customising the module to suit Kenya’s unique situation, ensuring that it provides the best possible mental health services for children and teenagers.
2. Training healthcare providers: The pilot testing phase will incorporate training and equipping healthcare providers with the necessary skills to assess, diagnose, and treat mental health problems in young people. This training will help them identify and address mental health issues early on.
3. Advocating for change: The evidence gathered can be used to persuade policymakers to improve child and adolescent mental health services in Kenya, leading to better resources and support.

Esther Chongwo

PhD fellow at the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University
Funded by the Hilton Foundation affiliated to the ALMA programme
PhD Focus: Early Child Development

Ms. Chongwo is pursuing her doctorate studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), where she seeks to understand the risks and resilience in children from arid and semi-arid regions of Kenya. She plans to investigate psychosocial and climatic factors that impact on pregnancy, neonatal and child outcomes in children aged 0-3 years in ASAL regions in Kenya. The study will generate new knowledge that will inform policies as well as context relevant and culturally appropriate interventions for children in Kenya’s ASAL regions to support their well-being and development.

Faith Neema

PhD fellow at the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University
Funded by the UZIMA programme affiliated to the ALMA programme
PhD Focus – Applied Machine Learning

Ms. Neema is pursuing her doctorate studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her project deals with Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

PhD in Applied Mathematics (Applied Machine Learning) ) is a comprehensive program that merges advanced mathematical techniques with practical applications in machine learning. It equips students with the skills to develop innovative algorithms, models, and solutions that harness the power of machine learning for solving complex real-world challenges.

Her pursuit of this PhD program will significantly contribute to the promotion of Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Kenya. By leveraging the expertise gained in applied machine learning, she will be better equipped to develop predictive models, identify trends, and uncover correlations within healthcare data. This, in turn, will enable more accurate and timely interventions, improving healthcare outcomes for mothers and children across the country and ultimately advancing the overall health landscape in Kenya.

Willah Nabukwangwa

Willah Nabukwangwa is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Health from the University of Nairobi, under the supervision of Professor Amina Abubakar.

She is a public health researcher and biostatistician with 8+ years of experience generating evidence at the intersection of climate, health, and development across East Africa. She currently serves as a Research Scientist and Data Analyst at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), where she leads school-based research under the Clean Air Africa Project, advancing the transition from biomass to clean cooking and assessing impacts on air quality, health, and learning outcomes.

Her work combines exposure assessment, mixed-methods research, and quasi-experimental evaluation to inform climate-health and clean energy policy. She is pursuing a PhD in Public Health at the University of Nairobi, focusing on the neurocognitive and mental health effects of cooking-related air pollution among learners.

Willah holds a Master’s in Epidemiology from Amref International University (2023) and a Bachelor’s in Biostatistics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (2015). She has contributed to research and implementation, particularly in maternal and child health, urban health, environmental health studies,  and nutrition.

Her PhD project focuses on Assessing the Effect of Cooking-related Air Pollution on Mental Health and Cognitive Performance among Secondary School Learners in Kenya.

Sabina Odero

Sabina is a PhD Fellow at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Human Development and is pursuing her PhD at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands). Her PhD focuses on the mental well-being and resilience of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Kenya, who are key workforce actors in promoting child health and development. However, evidence indicates that they experience significant psychological distress in the course of their work, with minimal development and evaluation of interventions tailored to their needs. Sabina’s PhD seeks to quantify the burden of mental health problems among the CHWs and expound on their experiences, accessing psychosocial support and building resilience. Since CHWs connect scientific knowledge with families and communities, investing in their wellbeing is an important pathway to improving child and adolescent brain health across Africa

Sabina has background training in Environmental Science from Kenyatta University, a postgraduate diploma in Health Research Methods from Pwani University and a master’s degree in Global Health and Development from University College London (UCL). Her research interests and expertise are in qualitative research, implementation science, health systems research with a focus on human resources for health, and mental health.

Tusekile Sarah Kangwa

Tusekile Sarah Kangwa is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience (Psychiatry) under the supervision of A/Professor Pieter Naudé, Professor Kirsty Donald and Dr Catherine Wedderburn in the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health and the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on perinatal HIV exposure, neuroimmune regulation, and early neurodevelopment among children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected (HEU). Using longitudinal data from the Drakenstein Child Health Study, she investigates how maternal and child peripheral neuroimmune profiles are associated with neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes across early childhood. Through this research, she aims to identify immune markers associated with early developmental vulnerability and possible pathways predictive of susceptibility to infection and suboptimal health outcomes in HEU children, thereby potentially contributing to strategies for the early intervention of children at risk of poor developmental outcomes.

Dr Takondwa Chimowa

Dr Takondwa Chimowa is a Consultant Neurodevelopmental Paediatrician with an MMED, FC Paed, Cert Dev Paed, and an MPhil in Developmental Paediatrics from the University of Cape Town. His MPhil research explored the clinical and contextual factors influencing epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy in South Africa.

He is passionate about advancing child health and the care of children with neurodevelopmental conditions through clinical practice, multidisciplinary collaboration, and research, particularly in resource-limited settings. His research interests include early childhood development, environmental influences on brain development, epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy, and autism spectrum disorder. He is especially interested in early detection and intervention strategies, as well as low-cost, community-based approaches to improving developmental outcomes in low- and middle-income settings.