Till Bärnighausen

Research Interests
My main research foci are population-based health research, in particular in HIV epidemiology, impact evaluation and health economics research in sub-Saharan Africa. I study the impact of global health interventions on demographic change, including aging, morbidity, and economic and social outcomes. I have previously led several studies on aging in Africa in the era of ART, including empirical and predictive investigations of the impact of antiretroviral treatment (ART) on life expectancy, HIV outcomes, health care needs, and employment. I am currently leading a pilot project to establish the value of life in urban Tanzania. The results of this study will improve our ability to estimate the social value of life-prolonging interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. I have also led one of Africa’s largest population-based HIV surveillances and a large PEPFAR-supported antiretroviral treatment program (both in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). I currently serve as joint principal investigator of a NIH/NICHD R01 grant on “Understanding causal pathways of HIV acquisition and transmission: a multi-level, longitudinal analysis of communities, households and individuals in a rural South African population”, which aims to improve our understanding of the socioeconomic and behavioral determinants of HIV infection and to identify and inform the design of new interventions to prevent HIV transmission and acquisition. I am also a co-investigator of a NIH/NIMH R01 grant on “The impact of antiretroviral therapy on HIV Epidemic Dynamics”, which uses a microsimulation and empirical approaches to estimates the effect of the antiretroviral treatment scale-up in South Africa on population aging, HIV and non-communicable disease incidence. Another NIH grant that is currently underway is one of the four components of a National Institute of Aging (NIA) program grant on aging in Africa, “Aging with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in the era of antiretroviral treatment.”

I am one of the investigators of the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, a Wellcome Trust-funded Health and Demographic Surveillance (HDSS) site in rural South Africa, and one of the principal investigators of an Elton John Foundation-funded cluster-randomized health systems implementation trial, testing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of four different approaches to delivery antenatal care and prevention of mother-to-child transmission in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I have also been funded for work on the impact of global health interventions and the economics of health by WHO, World Bank, Rush Foundation, IDRC, the European Commission, the Gates Foundation, and USAID.

Countries Studied
Sub Saharan Africa.

Projects
Aging with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in the era of antiretroviral treatment.