About Us

Aims of IeDEA Southern Africa

The overarching aims of IeDEA-SA are to conduct clinical, epidemiological and health services research in order to provide answers to the questions that clinicians, programs and ministries of health consider fundamental to HIV care and treatment strategies in Southern Africa; to inform HIV/AIDS, TB, cancer and mental health service delivery in the region, to increase the capacity for delivering antiretroviral therapy (ART), and, ultimately, to improve the prognosis of people living with HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa.

As the region with the greatest number of HIV+ adults and children and a sizable co-morbidity burden, the scientific agenda responds to the operational and clinical research priorities identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and opinion leaders in the field and focuses on questions that cannot be answered by one cohort. IeDEA-SA’s potential is widely recognized by information consumers, including WHO and UNAIDS, and the HIV Modelling and MESH consortia. IeDEA-SA is also leading in innovations, from novel approaches to statistical modelling to linkages with other records including national death and cancer registries.

The specific aims of IeDEA-SA are:

1. To study outcomes along the continuum of HIV care in adults
2. To study outcomes in pregnant women, infants, children, and adolescents
3. To study non-communicable diseases (NCDs), hepatitis B and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
4. To study the clinical and public health epidemiology of TB
5. To study cancer prevention, burden and care
6. To study mental health and substance use disorders

Principal Investigators


Newlands Clinic
Dr Cleophas Chimbetete

ISPM
Dr Eliane Rohner

ISPM
Prof Gilles Wandeler

UCT
Prof Mary-Ann Davies

Research Team

See Entire Research Team

Research Assistant, ISPM

Research Fellow, ISPM

Senior Data Scientist, UCT

Research Fellow, ISPM

Chief Research Officer and Director, CIDER

Senior Research Fellow, ISPM

Participating Cohorts

See All Participating Sites
Aid for AIDS
  • Gary Maartens, Investigator
  • Cape Town, South Africa
  • Private sector managed-care HIV program
Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ)
  • Carolyn Bolton-Moore, Investigator
  • Lusaka, Zambia
  • Non-profit health care organization
Gugulethu (Desmond Tutu HIV Centre)
  • Robin Wood, Investigator
  • Cape Town, South Africa
  • Public sector primary health care clinic
  • Urban population

Students and Graduates

See All Students and Graduates
  • John Andoh


    John joined the ISPM in November 2022 with the Cancer Research Group and with the University of Bern where he is doing his PhD. He is working on mathematical models evaluating various Cervical Cancer screening strategies, as well as their (cost-) effectiveness in Zambia. He obtained his MSc. Statistics from the University of Ghana.

  • Tiana Schwab


    Tiana joined the ISPM in 2022 to pursue a PhD, aiming to implement and evaluate a novel targeted sequencing assay at two HIV clinics in Southern Africa for the rapid detection and characterisation of drug resistant tuberculosis. She has a BSc in Biochemistry and Genetics from the University of Cape Town and an MSc in Chemical Biology from the University of Genève.