Dr. Gerry Mshana is a Chief Research Officer at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Mwanza centre. He holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology (Durham University, UK) and has over 25 years research experience conducting studies on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health, the socio-cultural aspects of HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, medical male circumcision, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Dr. Mshana has world class expertise in conducting theory informed exploratory and formative research using qualitative methods such as photo voices, ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews and participatory group discussions.
Dr. Mshana’s research has made significant contributions to evidence generation and policy influence in Tanzania and beyond. His PhD research on stroke discourses and treatment seeking practices in urban and rural Tanzania and a subsequent study on Parkinson’s disease were pioneering social science studies on the emerging non-communicable diseases in Tanzania. Through this research, Dr. Mshana demonstrated the importance of addressing the social constructs of illnesses and the wider health beliefs for improving the treatment seeking practices for such conditions in Tanzania and other similar settings. His subsequent research investigated the structural drivers of the HIV epidemic and sexually transmitted infections in Tanzania, South Africa and India. He co-chaired the alcohol working group of the STRIVE consortium funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). He led research in Tanzania that showed that aggressive advertisement and micro-packaging of alcohol drove harmful use among young people. The work contributed to the evidence based that led to the ban of alcohol packaging in plastic sachets (viroba) in Tanzania in 2017. In collaboration with colleagues in Tanzania and abroad, his research showed that a gender transformative and economic empowerment intervention prevents Intimate Partner Violence against women. This was one of the few robust studies from Africa to demonstrate that interventions can prevent violence against women.
His current research explores the structural drivers of poor health among different populations including alcohol use, gender-based violence, violence against children, and limited livelihood opportunities. He also investigates how research evidence can effectively inform policy making in low income contexts like Tanzania. Dr. Mshana is active in various research capacity building initiatives in the East African region through formal training and mentoring of junior researchers. He has published widely in peer reviewed journals.