GSA celebrates International Women's Day
To mark International Women's Day this week we are celebrating the wonderful women fighting schistosomiasis, leading innovation and contributing to global health and equity.
We asked some of our partners and colleagues to share with us what they do and their motivation to stop schistosomiasis.
Dr Victoria Gamba is a Resident of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. She is a strong advocate for increased awareness and research on Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) particularly its diagnosis and the impact it has on the health of women and girls in Kenya. To find out more about FGS check out the GSA's Genital Schistosomiasis Collection here.
Dr Obiageli Nebe is the Deputy Director/Programme Manager of the National Schistosomiasis/STH programme of Nigeria. She has long-standing experience in the public health sector, with expertise in the control and elimination of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis. Dr Nebe is working to substantially reduce the morbidity due to schistosomiasis in Nigeria, inline with the health sector reforms and the new WHO NTD 2030 Roadmap. Read this NTD NGO Network Interview of Dr Nebe on cross-sector collaboration to Beat NTDs.
Dr May Sule has a background in Chemical and Environmental Engineering with degrees from the University of Lagos (BSc), Newcastle University (MSc), and Imperial College London (PhD). Her research focus is on the technical and non-technical (socio-economic) aspects of achieving WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) success in line with the global sustainable development goals agenda. May works on the WISER project and is a member of the GSA Behaviour Change Working Group.
Dr Suzy Campbell is the Associate Director of the Deworm the World Initiative of Evidence Action. Dr Campbell uses her extensive background in epidemiology to support parnter countries design their interventions strategies and collect data to evaluate the impact and success of the deworming programmes. Suzy is a member of the GSA Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group.
Dr Teckla Angelo is a research scientist and head of parasitic diseases research program at the Mwanza Centre of the National Medical Research Institute in Tanzania. Teckla recieved her PhD from the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) Arusha, Tanzania. Teckla works on the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation, the NIMR-Univeristy of Cambridge project to map urogenital schistosomiasis in Mwanza, Tanzania, and the WISER project.
Dr Fiona Fleming is the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Operational Research at the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Foundation. Fiona supports SCIF partner countries design and implement standardised M&E surveys enabling countries to collect high quality data for informed decision-making, demonstrating health impact and generating evidence for the elimination of schistosomiasis. Fiona is the chair of the GSA Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group.
Dr Pauline Mwinzi works for the WHO African Regional Office on the Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN). She is the focal point for Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminthes, supporting Member States with their SCH/STH disease intervention programmes.Check out the ESPEN portal here.
Ms Yael Velleman is Director of Policy and Communication at the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative Foundation. Yael has extensive experience working on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health including working as Senior Policy Analyst for WaterAid and supporting the World Health Organization work on WASH and Neglected Tropical Diseases. Check out the WASH-NTD Toolkit and watch the Yael's HSTalks on WASH and NTDs here (To access this talk you need to create an account with HSTalks, after which the talk is free).
Ms Makia Christine Masong's background is in Sociology and Anthropology. She is a PhD candidate at the Université Catholique d'Afrique Centrale, sponsored by the project MTN - "Lutte contre les maladies tropicales négligées en Afrique Centrale" of the OCEAC (Organisation of Coordination for the Fight against Endemic Diseases in Central Africa). Her research, through projects like COUNTDOWN, is on the perceptions and treatment seeking behaviours linked to symptoms of Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS).
We know there are many more women out there doing incredible work to fight schistosomiasis and improve the health and quality of life for all! We celebrate and salute all of you! Together we will Stop Schisto and Beat NTDs, "An equal world is an enabled world."