Zambia

Center for Disease Research Zambia

CIDRZ is an independent, local, non-governmental health organization that has been an active partner of the Government of the Republic of Zambia through the Ministry of Health (MoH), and other ministries since 2001. The CIDRZ mission is to improve access to quality healthcare through innovative capacity development, implementation science and research, and impactful and sustainable public health programs. The CIDRZ team, with strong academic partnerships with prominent institutions including UCSF, UCD, UNC, UAB, and, Washington University, utilize progressive and collaborative approaches to develop research, health services, and training initiatives with measurable results in HIV prevention, HIV/AIDS care and treatment, tuberculosis prevention and control, sexual and reproductive health, newborn and child health, mental health and wellness, and community outreach.

Since 2013, UCSF has been engaged in research in collaboration with CIDRZ, and since 2018, has been involved in a highly productive research partnership with the CIDRZ Tuberculosis Department leading to significant insights of public health importance to Zambia and other high TB burden settings. Additionally, the University of California, Davis and CIDRZ have worked together since 2016, focusing primarily on HIV research collaborations on projects, from mobile health (mHealth) implementation to HIV/NCD co-morbidity, providing care delivery insights, innovations, and guiding policy review in Zambia and in the region.

CIDRZ has a training unit committed to growing researchers through internship and fellowship placements. With a focus on providing research and public health training opportunities to promising Zambian early- and mid-career professionals, CIDRZ strives to develop local expertise and provide critical evidence to move policy forward. The CIDRZ faculty and visiting university mentors provide junior researchers a rich environment in which to grow research methods and practice through structured one-on-one guidance and support. CIDRZ has hosted global health corps fellowships and has experience quickly integrating visiting fellows into work and life in Lusaka.

Site contact: Jake M. Pry (jmpry@ucdavis.edu), Andrew Kerkhoff (andrew.kerkhoff@ucsf.edu), Tamara Moyo Tembo (tamara.tembo@cidrz.org)