As the second cohort of Countdown fellows completed their one-year training and mentorship, they reflected on how the program had expanded their horizons and advanced their countries’ work toward improving reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health. The fellows participated in a final round of training from June 9 to13, then presented their analyses at the annual meeting held June 16-20 .
“The Countdown scholarship allowed me to make data speak,” said Khaly Gueye, a statistician from Senegal’s Direction de la Santé de la Mère et de l’Enfant. “As statisticians, we are used to processing and analyzing databases, which is a real passion of ours. But in reality, the most important thing is the ability to draw conclusions and make relevant recommendations. That is precisely what this fellowship has allowed us to do: leverage data, produce concrete results, and share them with the world through scientific publications.”
Fellows said the program helped them to:
- Develop specific technical skills, such as analyses related to equity and maternal health, that they were then able to share with the research and policy community in their home countries;
- Translate data into actionable insights and bridge research to policy;
- Connect to a global platform and gain increased exposure to international frameworks, cross-country methods, and multidisciplinary approaches; and
- Receive constructive feedback from a network of colleagues and mentors.
“This experience stretched me beyond what I thought I could do,” said Juliet Nyamasve, a PhD student and faculty member at the University of Zimbabwe. “The peer exchange broadened my perspective, my mentors showed me the true meaning of collaboration, and I leave more committed to making a difference in Africa’s health space.”
Albert Ndagijimana MPH, a PhD candidate, lecturer and researcher from the University of Rwanda, said that the program had enabled him to develop his skills in equity analysis. This has allowed him to produce an equity report of country findings and to share these skills with master’s students at the University of Rwanda.
Sable Parfait Stephane, a physician from the Department of Public Health at Cocody University’s medical school in Côte d’Ivoire, said he appreciated that the program incorporated practical strategies for improving health indicators.
The fellowship program has given Chikondi Chapuma, a physician at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Program, a global perspective on maternal health; she said the program “fosters technical excellence and promotes the use of evidence to accelerate progress and accountability in global health.”
Salisu Muhammed Ladan, a clinical mentor and researcher from Nigeria’s National AIDS and STD control programme within the Federal Ministry of Health also said that he has already begun sharing the resources with his colleagues. “The Countdown to 2030 Fellows Program has been instrumental in strengthening my skills in data-driven policy communication and knowledge translation,” Dr. Ladan said. “This program not only supports my professional growth but also aligns strongly with Countdown’s mission by building a new generation of researchers equipped to drive evidence-based health policy in Africa.”
Cohort 2 Fellows’ Poster Presentations from the 2025 Annual Meeting:
Eliane Assokom: Trends and patterns of sexual and reproductive health of poor adolescent girls in urban areas in Cameroon
Chikondi Chapuma: Health facility factors associated with severe maternal infections and severe maternal outcomes in 30 district hospitals across Malawi
Mamadou Abdoulaye R. Diallo: Regional Inequities and Determinants of Modern Family Planning Use in Guinea
Jacqueline Minja: Monitoring Delivery Coverage in Urban and Rural Districts in Tanzania: Impact of Data Sources
Albert Ndagijimana: Socio-economic inequalities of childhood stunting in Rwanda: Time trend analysis of demographic and health surveys, 2000 to 2019
Rogers Nsubuga: Maternal and Child Healthcare Coverage and Trends: Refugee vs Non-Refugee Districts in Uganda
Juliet Nyamasve: User Fees and Inequalities in Maternal Health Service Utilization in Zimbabwe: A Multi-Source Policy Analysis
Sable Parfait Stephanie: Influence de la qualite des soins prenataux sur le faible poids de naissance en Côte d’Ivoire en 2021