Neil Andersson has three decades of experience designing, implementing and managing evidence-based health planning initiatives. After a brief career start in paediatrics, he pursued postgraduate studies at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where he also served as Clinical Lecturer. In 1985, he founded the Centro de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET) at the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero in Mexico. He later served as post-graduate dean at Guerrero State University in Mexico and as the Senior Research Advisor to UNICEF in New York. Dr. Andersson’s career in international health, development issues and humanitarian aid began in Eritrea (1980-1983), where he managed an emergency public health programme and refugee care. A product of this period was his development of the world’s first portable plastic microscope. His work in emergencies continued to include several industrial disasters (Bhopal, Guadalajara, Seveso) as well as natural disasters and wars in Central America, the Horn of Africa and the Balkans. His Bhopal longitudinal follow-up studies (93% over five years) were the basis of the client-focused, community-based cross-design measurement tools now known collectively as the CIET methods. Dr. Andersson’s current work addresses two main issues: sexual violence and corruption in public services. A central concern in both areas is the use of research results at the policy level and in public services.

Leonider Amolo Akeye is a retired school teacher, and an inspirational leader. In 1995, after participating in the Beijing Conference for Women, she returned to her rural home and shared what she had learned about women’s experiences and what women are doing for themselves around the world. Siaya at that time was in the throws of a devastating epidemic of HIV and AIDS. People were dying, children were without carers, widows were not being provided for, traditional coping mechanisms were not working. Leonider and four other women decided to revive the traditional practice of visiting the sick and bringing a small offering, perhaps food, perhaps a household need such as soap. Fear of AIDS had stopped this practice, as
well as other traditional ways of coping such as a widow’s in-laws taking care of her needs. It took a few months but just these visits helped to open lines of communication in the village. Leonider and her group now provide home based care, counseling, group savings and loans services and assistance with income generating for women and children in their community. They have negotiated with leaders to protect widows’ rights and help to keep them in their homes. They are the silent heroines in the fight against AIDS
and they are making a difference

Peter Atekyereza is a Senior Lecturer and Head/Chair of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. He is the RENEWAL National Coordinator in Uganda since 2005. His areas of research interest are in rural sociology/development and family studies. He is currently researching on the relationship between marital statuses and living the dynamics of HIV infection in the districts of Pader and Wakiso in Uganda. He is also researching on Urban agriculture for sustainable livelihoods in the Lake Victoria region. He has a postgraduate diploma and Master of Science degree in Rural and Urban planning from the University of Zimbabwe, Harare and a PhD from Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria.


Trained as a respiratory physician, Eric Bateman’s current research as head the University of Cape Town Lung Institute ranges from the pharmacology and therapeutics of obstructive lung diseases and tuberculosis to community-based implementation of best practice guidelines for these and other priority diseases. His early research areas were clinically and laboratory-based, involving cellular and molecular biology of lung disease, but as a consequence of his change in interest to community-based health issues, he was instrumental in founding the Lung Institute which houses amongst its various research units, the Knowledge Translation Unit, which in collaboration with similar units overseas is addressing key issues concerning the role of nurses in the delivery of care for respiratory diseases and HIV-related heath needs. Eric holds an MBChB and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Cape Town, and has been elected a Fellow of the university. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom and his activities include membership of editorial boards of several respiratory journals, and international committees including the Science Committee of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) of which he is chair and a new WHO-sponsored initiative, the Global Initiative Against Respiratory Disease (GARD).

Samuel Bota works for the Natural Resources College in Malawi as Director of Programmes and Training. He coordinates Renewal activities in Malawi. He an agriculturist by profession and specialises in Rural Development and Training. He has Masters degree in Agriculture (Rural Development Administration and Management) from the University of Queensland in Australia. He co-authored a background paper of Food, Nutrition, and Livelihoods in Malawi that contributed to the establishment of Renewal in Malawi. He has done a number of research projects and consultancies in the areas of HIV and AIDS and rural development. In his current position, he works and interacts with key policy and decision makers in government in Malawi.

Elizabeth Byron is a consultant for IFPRI’s RENEWAL network. Her current research is on the role of nutrition interventions in the treatment and care of PLWHA in Kenya. She has also studied household and community resistance and resilience to the impacts of HIV/AIDS in Zambia. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida and has regional specialization in both Latin America and Eastern and Southern Africa.

Mickey Chopra is currently the director of the Health Systems Research Unit at the Medical Research Council, South Africa. The Unit is currently undertaking a number of innovative pragmatic and operational studies related to the implementation of HIV programmes across South Africa. Dr Chopra’s particular interest is in the field of PMTCT. He is currently the PI of a number of studies examining the effectiveness of PMTCT programmes in the region. He has published over 40 peer reviewed papers in the fields of child health, nutrition and health systems research.

Ruth Cornick is currently working as a guideline developer, trainer and medical researcher at the Knowledge Translation Unit, University of Cape Town Lung Institute, Cape Town, South Africa. She completed her family medicine training in Scotland in 2000 and subsequently worked in primary care settings in and around Cape Town, including with Medicine Sans Frontieres’ antiretroviral clinics in Khayelitsha. For the past two years she introduced and managed an antiretroviral treatment programme in a public sector clinic. This involved integrating the ARV programme with the existing TB programme in the clinic, and enhancing the skills of nurse practitioners in the clinic to manage co-infected patients. She is currently completing a Masters in Public Health at UCT; her thesis focuses on integrating TB, HIV and ARV care in a nurse-led primary care setting.

Mary Crewe is currently Director of The Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria. This Centre seeks to develop new ways of looking at HIV and AIDS, to find new explanatory frame works and develop critique and debate and find ways for the University and Southern African societies to live through and beyond the epidemic. Previously, she lectured at The University of the Witwatersrand in Education and Development, Social and Critical Theory and the Political Economy of Education. She managed the Greater Johannesburg AIDS programme located in Hillbrow. This Centre developed media, training materials and curricula and established new and innovative programmes in HIV and AIDS. She chaired the National Department of Education and Health Committee for HIV/AIDS Education in schools; co-chaired Track D Durban 2000 AIDS Conference, was on Track D for the Barcelona Conference 2001; on the conference organising committee for the AIDS 2003/5/7 South African conferences. She gave a plenary address at the Bangkok Conference, 2004. She is a co-editor of the AIDS Bulletin and on the editorial boards of Sex Education, Culture, Society and Sexuality, Journal of Higher Education and Education and Prevention. She works with UN agencies such as UNAIDS, UNICEF and UNESCO and has links with local, regional and international tertiary institutions, research institutions, parliamentarians and NGOs. Mary is also the editor of the Annual AIDS Review of the CSA; the author of a book and many articles.

Scott Drimie is currently an independent consultant working on development issues in Southern Africa and the RENEWAL-South Africa National Co-ordinator. His recent assignments have focused largely on food security and livelihood issues, incorporating HIV/AIDS as a major stressor, for a number of bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies and NGOs. In 2000 Scott completed his PhD at Cambridge University in the UK. After graduating he was based at the Human Sciences Research Council as a Senior Research Specialist in the Integrated Rural and Regional Development research programme. As RENEWAL-South Africa National Co-ordinator, Scott concentrates on linking research (evidence) with policies and programmes (action) is the National Advisory Panel, which through its membership has strategic linkages with decision-making bodies in South Africa.

Bruce Frayne joined IFPRI in 2005. His research is on the interactions between HIV/AIDS, livelihoods and food and nutrition security, with a focus on migration and urban-rural links. As the Regional Coordinator of the Regional Network on HIV/AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security (RENEWAL), his work is based Southern and Eastern Africa. A citizen of Canada, Frayne was born and grew up in Southern Africa. He received his Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Cape Town, South Africa and his Ph.D. in Geography from Queen’s University in Canada.


Stuart Gillespie is a senior research fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and co-founder and director of RENEWAL; the Regional Network on HIV/AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security, currently active in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa. After acquiring a PhD from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1988, he joined the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on an assignment to assess the potential future impact of AIDS on farming systems in central Africa. During the 1990s, he worked with various UN agencies and NGOs on combating child malnutrition, before joining IFPRI in 1999 when he initiated a programme of action research on AIDS, food and nutrition security. In April 2005, he convened the International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Food and Nutrition Security in Durban, South Africa. He is co-chair of the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition working group on nutrition and HIV/AIDS.

Petan Hamazakaza is an Agricultural Economist by profession. He works as a Farming Systems Research Specialist under the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute in Zambia and principally focusing on food and nutrition security. He is also coordinating RENEWAL programmes in Zambia. Due to the direct devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on food security, which falls within his spheres of research, Petan developed interest in participating in HIV/AIDS and Food Security related Research. Hence has collaborated with a number of UNDP agencies, CGIAR institutions and Universities in implementing research studies on HIV/AIDS and Food Security in Zambia with a view to help understand, isolate and define HIV/AIDS impacts.

Dr James Christopher (Christo) Heunis is a senior researcher at the Centre for Health Systems Research & Development at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. He is currently engaged in a project to document, analyse and facilitate the rollout of antiretroviral treatment in the Free State public health sector. Within this larger project he is responsible for a study to determine patients’ perceptions of the quality of care. He has also been responsible for assessing health workers’ views of integration of antiretroviral treatment into primary health care programmes and facility services. His previous research experience has related mostly to TB control. His doctoral thesis in sociology evaluates the closure of the last specialised TB hospital in the Free State. Dr Heunis has been participating health systems research since 1997. Of recent he has coordinated the Joint Research Project on Tuberculosis control in the Free State: from infection to cure (2001-2004) that was conducted under the auspices of the South African-Flemish Bilateral Scientific and Technological Cooperation Programme. From 2003-2004 he coordinated a project to map the delivery of key primary health care programmes in eight urban renewal nodes in South Africa.

Siphiwe Hlophess is a former labour union activist and project manager for an agricultural extension project working for the Ministry of Agriculture in Swaziland. She formed SWAPOL, an NGO with 5 other HIV positive women who all suffered from stigma from their in-laws. SWAPOL facilitates community sensitization on HIV, assists in the development of income generating activities, and liaises with traditional chiefs and leaders. SWAPOL is instrumental in supporting orphans who frequent it twice a day for food. Stephen Lewis Foundation supports SWAPOL.

Ari Ho-Foster. As an Associate of the Community Information and Empowerment and Transparency (CIET) group of NGOs, Ari Ho-Foster has been involved with studies on health service delivery, maternal and child health, pre-adolescent decision-making, sexual violence and HIV risk in Canada and southern Africa since 1998. In South Africa, he managed CIET’s 2002 national youth studies on sexual violence and HIV risk, and was also involved with the analysis of an eight-country baseline for measuring the impact of mass media on HIV risk conducted in 2002/3. Earlier this year, Ari was involved with an AusAID and EU supported pilot initiative to educate elders on gender-based violence and HIV issues, and assisted with CIET’s policy-oriented synthesis of evidence for AIDS prevention.

Robin Jackson is currently Chief of the HIV/AIDS Service at the United Nations World Food Programme in Rome, Italy. She is an economist by training with over 20 years of experience in development and humanitarian affairs. She worked at the OECD Club du Sahel as a food security expert before joining WFP and has been working in the Programme for 8 years. Ms. Jackson has extensive experience in policy formulation for food based programming in both rural and urban areas, and has authored numerous publications on food security in developing countries.

Suneetha Kadiyala is a Scientist at IFPRI. She joined IFPRI in 2002. Her research focuses on the interactions between HIV/AIDS, livelihoods and food and nutrition security. She is a Ph.D candidate at Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston and hopes to defend her dissertation in September 2006. She has her Master’s degree in Nutrition Science from M.S. University of Baroda, India. She had worked in India, Nepal and many countries in eastern and southern Africa. She is a citizen of India.

Uta Lehmann is an associate professor at the School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. She has a background in social sciences and a PhD in social history. She has worked in health personnel education since 1991. Her interest and expertise lie in human resource development, monitoring and evaluation, qualitative research and resource-based learning. Particular research interests include the impact of HIV on human resources in the health sector, the role of mid-level workers in primary health care and questions of capacity development of health service delivery at the district level. Uta leads the Human Resource Development Cluster within the School of Public Health, which is a WHO Collaborating Centre for teaching and research in HRH. She further co-ordinates the School’s Summer- and Winter School programme and the Doctoral programme. She is working extensively with the World Health Organization (WHO) and was a member of the Rockefeller-funded Joint Learning Initiative on health human resources.

Stephen Lewis is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, a post he’s held since June 2001. He is a Commissioner for the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Mr. Lewis is also a Senior Advisor to the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and a Senior Advisor for Health and Human Rights to the Harvard School of Public Health. Mr. Lewis serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and is the chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. In July 2006, in addition to his UN responsibilities, Mr. Lewis became the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Lewis was Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF at the organization’s global headquarters in New York. In 1997, in addition to his work at UNICEF, Mr. Lewis was appointed by the Organization of African Unity to a Panel of Eminent Personalities to Investigate the Genocide in Rwanda. From 1984 through 1988, Stephen Lewis was Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Lewis holds 24 honorary degrees from Canadian universities and is a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest honour for lifetime achievement. In 2006, Stephen Lewis’ best-selling book, Race Against Time won the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Libris Award for non-fiction book of the year, and Mr. Lewis was named the CBA’s Author of the Year for 2005.

Ireen Makwiza is a Senior Researcher with Research for Equity and Community Health (REACH) Trust, Malawi. She has a Master’s Degree in Sociology and is enrolled for PhD studies at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She has worked with REACH Trust formerly known as EQUI-TB Knowledge Programme since 2001. Ireen is primarily involved in research and advocacy for improving access to health services amongst the poor and vulnerable populations and health systems research. She is passionate about equity issues in health and is a member of EQUINET- the Regional Network on Equity in Health in Southern Africa.

Pat Mayers is a senior lecturer in the Division of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town. She has a background in nursing, with a specialty in Mental Health. Pat has a particular interest in quality service in primary health care in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, health and human rights, and the training and psychosocial support of health professionals who work at the primary level. She teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level and is currently responsible for postgraduate courses in communication, counseling skills and health and human rights, and supervision of masters students. Pat is involved in research and training at the Knowledge Translation Unit, University of Cape Town Lung Institute, and her PhD research is situated within the PALSA [Practical Approach to Lung Health in South Africa] project on nurses’ experiences of using guidelines at primary care level. She has been a Lifeline volunteer counselor for many years and is a trustee in a community service organisation in Nyanga, Cape Town, which offers counseling, training and support to persons who are affected/infected with HIV/AIDS.

David (Dave) McCoy. After graduating as a medical doctor in the UK, David McCoy worked as a junior doctor for two and a half years in England before spending two and half years in a rural hospital in northern Kwazulu, South Africa. He then worked as a senior research fellow at the Child Health Unit of the University of Cape Town for 18 months. For the subsequent six years, he worked for the Health Systems Trust, a non-government organisation based in South Africa that was established to develop a research and evidence base to inform the development of the health care system. His last post was as the Director for Research. Three years ago, Dave conceptualised and initiated the production of an alternative world health report (Global Health Watch) under the auspices of the Peoples Health Movement, the Global Equity Gauge Alliance and a local charity based in the UK, Medact. He completed a doctorate in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2004 in which he applied some aspects of organisational theory to the delivery of primary health care in South Africa. He now works as a public health specialist in London, whilst continuing to act as one of the Managing Editors for the Global Health Watch and a Steering Committee member of the Peoples Health Movement. He also provides technical advice and support to a number of NGOs including the Southern African Network on Equity and Health (Equinet).

Portia Shai Mhatu. Born in the Free State town of Zastron, Portia Shai Mhatu is currently director of the HIV and AIDS/STI/Tb and Communicable Diseases section of the Department of Health of the Free State province of South Africa, and has been closely associated with the development of the comprehensive programme of HIV/AIDS care in that province. The programme is a component of an integrated package of care with other priority diseases, and is centred on primary care clinics, in which nurses play a major role. After qualifying as a nurse, she became involved in nurse training, first as a lecturer and later as head of a nursing college. Before switching to health management, she served as Administrative Dean of the Free State School of Nursing. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of South Africa and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Free State University.

Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen is an HIV physician and medical anthropologist. His practices at the Clinique médicale l’Actuel in Montreal, and was also recently appointed Associate Proefssor of Social Medicine at the Université de Montréal. He has worked with community-based organizations to improve access to treatment for HIV since 1994 in Burkina Faso, Côte-d’Ivoire and Mali. His research concerns the social, political and cultural dimensions of the response to the epidemic and access to treatment.

Gabriel Rugalema is Senior Officer, HIV/AIDS and Food Security at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He is a Tanzanian national, holds B.Sc. (Agriculture) from Sokoine University of Agriculture - Tanzania; M.Sc (Natural Resource Management) from the Agricultural University of Norway; and Ph.D. (Development Studies) from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. Before joining FAO, Dr Rugalema served from 2000 to 2002 as UNAIDS Senior Policy Adviser, HIV/AIDS and Development, Africa Region (based in Pretoria). He then joined the UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) in Paris as Capacity Building Manager (HIV/AIDS and Education). During this period he advised governments in the African region on developing HIV/AIDS policies, Strategic Framework, initiating socio-economic research studies, operationalisation of national AIDS bodies. Before joining the UN, Mr Rugalema worked at Sokoine University of Agriculture in his native Tanzania and later the Agricultural University of Wageningen in The Netherlands where he researched on the socio-economic aspects of HIV/AIDS on agrarian communities in East and West Africa. Dr Rugalema has published extensively and organised international policy fora in the field of HIV/AIDS and agriculture/Rural Livelihoods. He is the author of the ground-breaking study on the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Commercial Sector Agriculture in Kenya (1998), commissioned by FAO.

Issoufou Tiendrébéogo is President of the Association African Solidarité (AAS), a community based organization based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. AAS pioneered community-based antiretroviral treatment starting in 1998; today, its "Centre Oasis" provides antiretrovirals to over 500 patients. Issouf was recently honoured for his work with AAS by his country by being named Chevalier de l’Ordre national.

Margaret Akinyi Wagah has a PhD in community nutrition. She is a nutrition researcher and presently a lecturer at the Kenyatta University in Kenya. She has been actively involved in widespread nutrition -researching in the country and in the region with governmental institutions, NGOS, and international organisations. Some of the organisations with which she has to date developed professional networking activities include, FAO, WFP, UNICEF, IFPRI, Rockefeller Foundation, RELMA-ICRAF and local NGOs. She is presently RENEWAL Kenya’s National Coordinator and issues of HIVAIDS and its links with FNS is her research interest agenda. Margaret has participated in the recent global HIVAIDS/FNS discussions by WHO & IFPRI, including a joint paper presentation on HIVAIDS/FNS with Stuart Gillespie at SCN-Geneva, 2006.

Merrick Zwarenstein is a physician turned health services researcher. His work focuses on rigorous, multimethod development and evaluation efforts for complex interventions in health care. Examples include on-site in-service training for South African nurses on syndromic primary care of respiratory illnesses including TB and asthma, and HIV/AIDS care, as well as effectiveness of electronic prescribing tools and strategies to promote inter-professional collaboration. He worked at the South African Medical Research Council for many years, and his proudest work during this time was to establish the Health Systems Research Unit which tries to integrate health services research into policy decision-making, , to initiate courses for middle level managers and front line clinicians in research methods for service quality improvement, and to contribute to critical thinking on the effectiveness of direct observation of tuberculosis treatment. He continues to support projects in South Africa, based in Canada, where he works at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michaels Hospital, and also in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.