After completing a Master’s degree in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, Andreas joined the ISPM in 2012, where he completed his PhD in Epidemiology. His PhD project evaluated the effectiveness of Malawi’s “Option B+”. Specifically, the project aims were to identify challenges to program success, and then to plan and carry-out appropriate interventions.
In 2011, the Malawian MoH developed a pragmatic public health approach to improve the low antiretroviral coverage among pregnant women in Malawi and implemented the “Option B+” protocol. Option B+ provides universal lifelong ART for all HIV-infected pregnant and breastfeeding women, regardless of CD4 cell count and/or WHO clinical stage. Following the national implementation of Option B+ the antiretroviral coverage among pregnant women in Malawi increased from 49% in 2011 to 85% in 2014 and numerous other countries have adopted the Option B+ policy.
In November 2016, Andreas was awarded the 2016 annual SSPH+ Award for the best published PhD article resulting from his PhD: “Retention in care during the first 3 years of antiretroviral therapy for women in Malawi’s option B+ programme: an observational cohort study”,