February: Jovita Amurwon PhD of the Month

There are two main reasons for why Jovita Amurwon is the candidate of the month.

1. Jovita Amurwon is very supportive person. She takes care of new students arriving at Centre for International Health (CIH) at all times, and is a very important part of the social life at CIH. Her positive attitude towards other persons is remarkable. Not surprisingly, a work title of her last article is “Helping your neighbor is like a loan for the future”.

2. The topic Jovita Amurwon is working on for her PhD is 'The social and economic strategies to cope with HIV illness and death applied by households in Uganda". Her first article in her PhD was published in International Journal for Equity in Health in October 2015, and was titled: The relevance of timing of illness and death events in the household life cycle for coping outcomes in rural Uganda in the era of HIV. These types of qualitative studies are important.

Students like Jovita make CIH a better place to live and study. 

Bergen 29/2-2016
Committee: 
Bjarne Robberstad
Bente E. Moen

Background information

Jovita Amurwon is from Uganda. She is affiliated to the Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Science, and has her supervisor in Uppsala. She came to CIH the first time in 2014 as a guest student in a course, and has been a part of the teaching environment at CIH since then.

Publications:

Amurwon J, Hajdu F, Seeley J. The relevance of timing of illness and death events in the household life cycle for coping outcomes in rural Uganda in the era of HIV. Int J Equity Health. 2015 Oct 27;14(1):105.

Medina Lara A, Kigozi J, Amurwon J, Muchabaiwa L, Nyanzi Wakaholi B, Mujica Mota RE, Walker AS, Kasirye R, Ssali F, Reid A, Grosskurth H, Babiker AG,Kityo C, Katabira E, Munderi P, Mugyenyi P, Hakim J, Darbyshire J, Gibb DM, Gilks CF; DART Trial Team. Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Clinically Driven versus Routine Laboratory Monitoring of Antiretroviral Therapy in Uganda and Zimbabwe Plos One 2012

She has been a part of Development of Antiretroviral Therapy in Africa  - DART -trial team, and is involved in several publications performed by this group, such as:

Ford D, Robins JM, Petersen ML, Gibb DM, Gilks CF, Mugyenyi P, Grosskurth H, Hakim J, Katabira E, Babiker AG, Walker AS; DART Trial Team.
The Impact of Different CD4 Cell-Count Monitoring and Switching Strategies on Mortality in HIV-Infected African Adults on Antiretroviral Therapy: An Application of Dynamic Marginal Structural Models. Am J Epidemiol. 2015 Oct 1;182(7):633-43.

Seeley, J., Amurwon, J. and Foster, S. (2010)
The longitudinal picture: what does it reveal? In: HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: Diverse trajectories and impacts. Earthscan, London, pp. 13-28. ISBN 9781849711258

S.D. Foster , S. Nakamanya , R. Kyomuhangi , J. Amurwon , G. Namara , B. Amuron , C. Nabiryo , J. Birungi , B. Wolff , S. Jaffar , H. Grosskurth 
The experience of “medicine companions” to support adherence to antiretroviral therapy: quantitative and qualitative data from a trial population in Uganda, AIDS Care Vol. 22, Iss. sup1, 2010