Estelle Monique Sidze

(MENAFN- The Conversation) I am a maternal health specialist with special focus on coverage and equity analyses, financing strategies to achieve universal access to quality maternity care, and maternal mental health.

Maternal mental health still is the elephant in the room as far as maternal health is concerned in sub-Saharan Africa and I am working on increasing evidence on its prevalence especially among teenage mothers and developing innovative solutions to provide women with the knowledge, problem-solving skills, coping mechanisms and confidence they need to protect their mental health. You can follow my work on the issue on Conversation Africa.

I have led several multi-country studies, providing technical guidance at different stages including proposal development, data collection and analysis, and knowledge translation. I have several years of experience of research leadership and policy engagement experience acquired at APHRC, one of the Africa's foremost regional research centers addressing population, health and education issues. I have published several peer-reviewed papers and opinion pieces, and serves as reviewer and guest editor for various peer-reviewed journals including BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, Maternal and Child Health Journal, Bulletin of the World Health organization, BMC Public health, BMJ Global Health, Sage, and African Journal of Reproductive Health.

I believe African lives can be transformed through excellent work and leadership by African researchers.

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