Estelle Monique Sidze
African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
esidze@aphrc.org
Dr Estelle M. Sidze is a demographer with extensive experience in research and community engagement on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) within the African context. Dr Sidze currently leads the maternal, newborn and child health and wellbeing (MNCH-W) research portfolio at the African Population at Health Research Center (APHRC), one of the continent's premier research institutions and think tank, exploring questions of population health and development. Dr Sidze has led and managed several large-scale research and advocacy projects on ending preventable deaths through better understanding of the household dynamics of maternal, newborn and child health as well as social and structural barriers to universal access to quality maternal and child health, focusing particularly on vulnerable populations (i.e. young women, migrant women, urban poor women, and women and children living in arid and semi-arid areas). As one of the technical leads for the Countdown 2030 regional initiatives, she advises on coverage and equity analyses across 26 African countries and has co-authored the forthcoming Countdown to 2030 Lancet report (Tracking progress in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition: the Countdown to 2030 for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health report).
Myroniuk T.W., Sidze E.M., White M.J., Mberu B. & Madhavan S., The Nexus of the Risk of Depression and Residential Mobility for Urban Poor Mothers: New Longitudinal Evidence from Nairobi, SSM - Mental Health, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2025.100430.
Wainaina, C.W., Igonya, E., Wekesah, F.M. and Sidze, E.M., 2024. Women’s economic empowerment and maternal mental health: A qualitative study in Rural Kenya. European Psychiatry, 67(S1), pp. S810-S811.
Sidze, E. M., Wekesah, F. M., Kisia, L., & Abajobir, A. (2022). Inequalities in access and utilization of maternal, newborn and child health services in sub-Saharan Africa: A special focus on urban settings. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 1-30.
Wehrmeister, F. C., Faye, C. M., da Silva, I. C. M., Amouzou, A., Ferreira, L. Z., Jiwani, S. S., ... Sidze, E. M., & Boerma, T. (2020). Wealth-related inequalities in the coverage of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health interventions in 36 countries in the African Region. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 98(6), 394.
Sidze, E. M., Mutua, M. K., & Donfouet, H. P. (2020). Towards achieving equity in utilization of maternal health services in selected sub-Saharan African countries: progress and remaining challenges in priority countries. Women and Sustainable Human Development: Empowering Women in Africa, 111-124.
2023 - 2024 : Co-chair of the Union for the African Population Study (UAPS) family planning and sexual and reproductive (https://uaps-uepa.org/current panels/family-planning-srhr/)
2019 - to date: Senior researcher and maternal and child health focus area lead, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Nairobi, Kenya
2019- 2019: Member of the Joint Countdown to 2030 and Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) Technical Working Group for the Tracking of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Domestic Financing for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (WCAH).
2018 - to date: Member of the Marie Stopes International (MSI) Ethics Review Committee (https://www.msichoices.org/what-we-do/technical-expertise/ethics-review-committee/)
2013- 2018: Associate Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Nairobi, Kenya
2017-2011: PhD scholarship award, Population and Health in Africa Program, University of Montreal, Canada
2015: Bixby Leadership Fellowship awardee, Guttmacher Institute, USA
2011- 2013: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Nairobi, Kenya
2008- 2011: Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, University of Montreal, Canada
2001- 2002: Data collector, National Institute of Statistics, Cameroon
1. Catalyze mental health, Senegal and Sierra Leone (Grand Challenges Canada, USD 400,000, Role: co-PI)
2. Kinship, Nuptiality and Child health Outcomes in a Low Income Urban Area (NHI through University of Maryland, USD 1.06 Million, Role: PI)
3. Examining the complex dynamics influencing persistent acute malnutrition in Turkana and Samburu Counties – A Longitudinal mixed methods study to support community driven activity design (USAID through Mercy Corps and RTI, USD 2.9 Million, Role: PI)
4. Baseline evaluation of World Food Programme activities for food security among vulnerable populations in refugee camps and semi-arid areas in Kenya (including pregnant and lactating women), April 2019-December 2020 (World Food Programme through United Nations University, USD 182,000, Role: PI)
5. Enhancing UHC in Kenya through digital innovations: A Financial and Health Diaries evaluation study of the mobile health wallet, November 2018-June 2021 (Joep Lange Institute and PharmAccess Foundation, Euros 399,265, Role: PI)
6. Sasa Mama Teen Project: Strong Minds for Stronger Adolescent Mothers in Nairobi Slums, May 2018-December 2019 (Grand Challenges Explorations, USD 100,000, Role: PI)
7. Assessing RMNCH services access and rights among migrants and mobile populations in East and Southern Africa: In-depth analysis of policies, needs, barriers and rights to services, February 2017 – December 2017 (International Organization for Migration, USD 250,000, Role: PI)
8. Evaluating the impact and cost-effectiveness of the free primary care and free maternity care programs in Kenya, 2015-2017 (The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research – WOTRO, Euros 300,000, Role: PI)
9. Qualitative study on economic, social, and health benefits of social protection programmes in Kenya (with focus on maternal and child health protection programs) (UNICEF through University of Maastricht, USD 45,000, Role: PI)
10. Understanding contraceptive uptake after medical abortion among women and adolescent girls in Kenya, March 2018-December 2018 (IPAS USA, USD 48,000, Role: PI)
11. Analysis of resources flows for reproductive health in sub-Saharan African countries, 2011-2016 (UNFPA through NIDI, USD 300,000, Role: PI)
Grants as co-investigator or country focal lead:
12. Strengthening analysis and evidence for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition in Eastern and Southern Africa (UNICEF - Countdown to 2030, USD 450,000)
13. Policy engagement on unsafe abortion in Kenya, 2017, (IPAS, USD 14,997)
14. External evaluation for transforming access to contraception for adolescent girls in Kenya, 2015-2018 (Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, USD 325,000)
15. Evaluation of the implementation of sexuality education policies and curricula in Kenya, 2014-2016 (Guttmacher Institute, USD 175,604)
16. The public cost of unsafe abortion in Kenya, 2014-2015 (Hewlett foundation, USD 300,000).
17. The Measurement Learning and Evaluation (MLE) Project in Senegal, Kenya and India, 2011-2013 (Technical staff, Gates Foundation, USD 5.8 Million)