Edina Amponsah-Dacosta

Dr Edina Amponsah-Dacosta is a trained medical virologist, vaccinologist and health systems researcher. She obtained an MSc and a PhD in medical virology from the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in 2013 and 2017, respectively, and a master's in public health (health policy and systems specialisation) from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2019. She also completed a five-year postdoctoral research fellowship in vaccinology at the Vaccines for Africa Initiative (VACFA) based at UCT in 2022.

As a research officer and evidence-informed decision-making specialist (EIDM) at VACFA, Edina is involved in strengthening expert recommendations on vaccines and immunisation services in Africa. To this end, she supports the development of EIDM resources and the organization of vaccinology and EIDM courses and capacity development workshops geared towards members of national immunization technical advisory groups (NITAGs). This work forms part of the NITAG Support Hub or NISH project which is underwritten by the World Health Organization and made possible with funding from Wellcome. In line with VACFA’s vision of “An Africa free of vaccine preventable diseases”, Edina’s research focus draws on her strong interdisciplinary expertise in pursuing the goal of expanding the reach of lifesaving vaccines and reducing the burden of vaccine preventable diseases across the African region. She is the principal investigator of a Gilead Sciences sponsored project assessing the neglected burden of viral hepatitis among HIV-exposed uninfected and infected paediatric populations. Furthermore, she is interested in scaling up health systems capacity to support under-utilised immunisation programmes like hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination, human papillomavirus vaccination, and maternal immunisation programmes. Edina is also involved in conducting clinical trials and systematic reviews, postgraduate teaching and supervision, and co-organizing the annual African vaccinology course hosted by VACFA. She is an affiliate member of the African Academy of Sciences.