Dr Makandwe Nyirenda from the Africa Centre for Health & Population Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa has been awarded the first John C Caldwell African Research Visiting Fellowship.

The Fellowship is funded through the John C (Jack) Caldwell Chair in Population, Health and Development Endowment Fund and is designed to:

• Continue Professor Caldwell’s legacy of supporting research into the influences of social and economic change on families’ demographic and health decision making;
• Support important research by African researchers; and
• Build opportunities for further collaboration between African  and the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH) and ADSRI researchers in population, health and development.

Dr Nyirenda’s academic interests are around the health and well-being of older adults within the theme of population ageing in Africa and in particular non-communicable diseases and chronic health conditions in an ageing population in the context of a severe HIV epidemic. He has been involved in the two waves of the WHO Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (SAGE) Wellbeing of Older People Study (WOPS) and during the fellowship he plans to analyse mortality trends more closely with the aim of identifying interventions.

Dr Nyirenda plans to start his three month fellowship in October 2014 and will divide his time between NCEPH and ADSRI. His academic host will be Professor Cate D’Este of NCEPH.

» more information about Dr Makandwe Nyirenda

» more information about the John C Caldwell African Research Visiting Fellowship