Professor Ferrand received her award from Professor Rose Leke (Emeritus Professor of Immunology and Parasitology at the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon) and Professor Margaret Gyapong (University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana*) at Tuesday morning’s plenary session.
Professor Ferrand is an HIV and sexual health specialist and epidemiologist. She holds a position at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, but has been based in Zimbabwe for more than 20 years.
She has conducted highly influential research and has done much to highlight key issues relating to HIV infections in adolescents. With additional children receiving antiretroviral therapy in Africa, more have been surviving into adolescence and beyond, yet HIV care has traditionally focused on the needs of children or adults. However, adolescents living with HIV face a distinct set of health and social challenges.
HIV co-morbidities
As well as improving methods to detect undiagnosed HIV infections in adolescents, Professor Ferrand’s research has raised awareness of the co-morbidities affecting adolescents living with HIV. She identified a previously unrecognised HIV-associated chronic lung disease (constrictive obliterative bronchiolitis) affecting up to a third of African adolescents in the ART era.
She has also evaluated interventions to improve management of co-morbidities, including vitamin D supplementation to improve bone health (through the EDCTP2-funded VITALITY project) and azithromycin to reduce the risk of acute respiratory symptoms.
Improving care
Professor Ferrand has also explored ways to improve care of adolescents living with HIV, including lay-worker-delivered support for caregivers of older children/adolescents with HIV. She has also developed integrated care models that combine HIV care, sexual and reproductive health, and management of co-morbidities.
Strengthening capacity
In addition, Professor Ferrand has made major contributions to capacity building, at the Biomedical Research and Training Institute in Zimbabwe and across sub-Saharan Africa more generally. She directs the innovative CREATE PhD Programme, which pairs 25 UK and 25 African health professionals across five countries (Ethiopia, The Gambia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Through this programme, she has established a Digital Global Health Academy (DGHA), designed to provide the fellows with the skills to become impactful global health leaders.
Professor Ferrand also co-directed a Fogarty/NIH-funded academic programme that trained multiple doctoral and postdoctoral scientists, and is a co-director and the training lead of the €4.8m EDCTP-funded Southern Africa Research Capacity Network (SOFAR), which spans Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Professor Ferrand has also spearheaded the development of a professional development programme to build the capacity of policymakers and programme staff with responsibilities for adolescent well-being. The EMPOWA Programme has been taken up by the WHO Partnership of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health for implementation across Africa.
Accepting her award, Professor Ferrand called on the health research community to raise its voice in response to humanitarian crises that are now severely impacting the health and well-being of children.
*Centre for Health Policy and Implementation Research, Institute of Health Research, University of Health and Allied Sciences and Co-President of the Royal Society