 Tragically, Dr Constance Nyamukapa, a long-time member of the Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research, passed away from a heart attack at her flat in Harare, Zimbabwe, on April 29th, having celebrated her 57th birthday two weeks earlier.
Connie was born in Marondera, Zimbabwe, to parents who worked mainly as domestic servants, and was brought up and went to school in various locations in Mashonaland East and Manicaland provinces. She attended the School of Social Work in Harare gaining a Diploma and then a bachelor’s degree in social work. From 1994-1995, whilst at CEID in Oxford, Connie worked as a Research Assistant with Simon Gregson, Roy Anderson, Geoff Garnett (also once of DIDE) and colleagues at (what was) the Blair Research Institute (later the name went out of fashion and was changed to [another] NIHR!) on a research project that included collection of population survey data on the early spread and socio-demographic impact of HIV/AIDS. This was the first research study of its kind in Zimbabwe – where the Government, like many others at the time, had been in a state of denial and the infection was hidden and even more stigmatised than it is today – so Connie’s and her fellow research assistants’ work was extremely challenging. However, they managed it with great sensitivity and skill, and the effort paid off. The results on HIV prevalence and mortality levels and patterns tallied with early mathematical model projections and had a pivotal influence in the Zimbabwe Government’s pioneering decision to introduce a new tax (the ‘AIDS Levy’) to raise funds to support HIV/AIDS prevention and impact mitigation efforts. Between 1996-1997, Connie worked as a probation officer and then as Deputy Superintendent at Matthew Rusike Children's Home caring for orphaned children. In 1997, she helped to establish the Manicaland General Population Open Cohort HIV Sero-Survey and to start development of the Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research, in the province’s rural district of Mutasa (http://www.manicalandhivproject.org/). In Zimbabwe, the Centre was set up under the newly formed independent not-for-profit Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI); and, at the UK end, in 2000, the research team moved from Oxford back to Imperial College to be part of DIDE. Connie has been a key member of the Manicaland Centre team ever since; first as Data Quality Fieldwork Supervisor and then as Fieldwork Manager. In 2000, she applied for and was awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship and successfully completed a Masters in Population and Development at the LSE and a field-based research project on extended family support to safeguard orphans education. Following this, Connie studied for and, in 2008, was awarded a PhD in Social Epidemiology in our department at Imperial supervised by Matthew Jukes from the Partnership for Child Development. In the PhD, Connie set up and ran a multi-round population-based cohort survey of children in which she documented the effects of parental HIV infection and parental loss on children’s education and mental health. She also led the analysis of data on the effects of parental loss on children’s mental health collected in a national survey conducted by UNICEF. Connie published the results from her Masters’ and PhD projects in first author articles in leading international journals including Social Science and Medicine and the American Journal of Public Health. Since 2008, Connie has been employed as a Research Associate in DIDE at Imperial whilst serving as Research Operations Director at the Manicaland Centre in Zimbabwe. In this role, she has very effectively overseen and managed all of the Centre's Zimbabwe-based research activities, including six more rounds of the Manicaland Cohort and two large-scale community-randomised control trials of novel HIV control interventions. At the time of her passing, Connie was Principal Investigator for a Gates Foundation-funded study to measure the extent of continuing excess morbidity and mortality in people living with HIV compared to uninfected adults following ART scale-up, and to understand how adherence to overlapping health beliefs and practices (including use of traditional herbs, faith healing and spiritual cures as well as biomedical services) might contribute to this. She was also Joint-PI, with Professor Frank Tanser (Stellenbosch University), on an ongoing large and complex NIH R01-funded trial of a peer network intervention to increase men’s use of HIV self-test kits and clinic-based pre-exposure prophylaxis services. Just a few weeks before her death, Connie was appointed Co-Director of the Manicaland Centre with Louisa Moorhouse. Over the course of her career at Imperial, Connie supervised, mentored and/or supported and nurtured numerous Undergraduate, Masters and PhD students (Zimbabwean and International). In 2023, she received a Collaborative Research Award in the College Faculty of Medicine's 25th Anniversary Staff Awards. These are some bald facts. Connie Nyamukapa has been an absolute cornerstone of the research done by the Manicaland Centre since its formation. However, at the same time, she was a totally original and unique character and a truly wonderful, generous and down-to-earth human being – one minute participating in a panel discussion at an international conference; the next minute planting vegetables in the fields for her family. Connie never married and never had any children of her own; instead, she held together and supported (socially & financially) a vast extended family. She's going to be so terribly missed by so many people. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Constance_Nyamukapa A link to video recordings of Connie’s funeral and burial services is available for anyone who would like to see these – Simon Gregson can provide a link if contacted.
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Zimbabwean, German, and Danish researchers meet for the first time to conduct collaborative research16/1/2026  Between November 3rd- 5th, 2025 qualitative researchers from the Harnessing Male Peer Networks to Enhance Engagement with HIV Prevention (“IMPERATIVE”) trial met as a team for the first time in-person. The aim of the IMPERATIVE trial is to encourage men in east Zimbabwe to use and deliver HIV self-tests to male peers and link them to local HIV (prevention) services. This peer-delivered service is also supported with an SMS HIV screening assessment tool, a telephone hotline, and an incentive structure for men and their peers. The trial is currently ongoing and qualitative data including in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and photovoice is being collected by qualitative researchers Rufurwokuda Maswera (Zimbabwe), Louis Chisvo (Zimbabwe), Dr. Maureen McGowan (Germany), Prof. Dr. Morten Skovdal (Denmark) and by local peer researchers Tapfuma Chibanda and Pardon Chimbandidiza. Each team member contributes a unique perspective and role to the project. Mr. Maswera and Mr. Chisvo lead all local qualitative research activities from participant recruitment to material development, interviewing, and report writing. Dr. McGowan brings with her expertise in implementation science and qualitative data analyses. Dr. Skovdal is an expert qualitative researcher and supervises all data processes (from implementation to interpretation). Then, the qualitative work would not be possible without the support of our peer researchers: Mr. Chibanda and Mr. Chimbandidiza who interview men who have experienced the intervention. Their local knowledge of their communities, its people, and customs has provided us with highly trusted, accurate, and detailed data.
As a team, we hope that this in-person workshop is just the start of many to come. Together we learned from one another, shared stories and laughter. We already look forward to the next opportunity to analyze and disseminate research together.
Written by: Dr. Maureen McGowan  On December 7th, the Manicaland Centre organised a satellite session in collaboration with esteemed partners, including the Ministry of Health and Child Care, UNAIDS, the National AIDS Council, Imperial College London, and the South to South Learning Network. This collaborative effort aimed to share our experiences as a country in developing and testing a novel ‘Harare’ HIV Combination Prevention Cascade for use in high-level monitoring and advocacy for the activities and resources needed to strengthen HIV prevention programmes.  Dr Mugurungi, in his introductory remarks, set the stage for the session, followed by insightful presentations by Mr Taramusi from UNAIDS, Dr Moyo from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, and Prof Gregson from the Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research/Biomedical Research and Training Institute. The presentation was followed by a panel discussion where panel members advocated the use of the cascade within national population surveys across the region, emphasising its potential role, similar to the treatment cascade, in driving progress toward UNAIDS targets. The distinguished panel included Mr Mpofu from the National Aids Council, Mr Xaba and Mr Sithole from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Moorhouse from Imperial College London and Mr Kahn from the South to South Learning Network. The session was a great success. This session was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  From December 4th to December 9th, the Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research was well represented at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Harare. Throughout the event, a delegation of representatives from the Centre actively participated and contributed to the vibrant discussions and knowledge exchange. Rufurwokuda Maswera was invited to present one of our studies in an abstract-driven session within the plenary room. His presentation focused on the associations between masculine social norms, sexual risk behaviour and the use of HIV prevention methods in Manicaland. For those interested, a video of his presentation can be found below.  On December 6th, our team members Phyllis Mandizvidza and Blessing Tsenesa made impactful contributions during the poster-driven session. Mrs Mandizvidza shared insights on a study regarding survey measurements of community norms on Adolescent Girls and Young Women’s (AGYW) sexual behaviour and use of condoms for HIV prevention. Mr Tsenesa presented a study on HIV stigma, challenging its potential hindrance to the use of male condoms. Despite persistent high levels of stigma, the study findings suggest that it may not be a barrier to condom use. The Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research recently hosted two workshops in Zimbabwe for national and local stakeholders in the HIV response. The aim of the workshops was to share the results of research by the Manicaland Centre and discuss their policy and programme implications. 
 Dr Constance Nyamukapa, Research Operations Director of the Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research, has been recognised with a “Highly Commended” award for “Outstanding Achievement through Collaborative Research”. The award was originally presented at the Imperial Faculty of Medicine’s 25th Anniversary Staff Awards in January, but Constance is based in Zimbabwe, so was unable to attend the ceremony. As a result, Prof. Simon Gregson presented the award to Constance at the Manicaland Centre Field Office, in a small gathering on April 4th.
In a short speech, Simon highlighted Constance’s longstanding commitment to research at the Manicaland Centre, and her key role in ensuring that the Centre’s many partnerships are effective. He acknowledged that Constance has led the field operations for the Manicaland Centre successfully since 1998 and continues to play a pivotal role in research on HIV in Zimbabwe. Upon receiving the award, Constance thanked the field team for their support in all the Centre’s research to understand both the HIV epidemic and potential interventions to control its spread. She remarked that she considers her award as recognition of the team’s collective dedication to working together to produce high quality findings. Everyone at the Manicaland Centre congratulates Constance on this remarkable achievement and looks forward to her continued contributions to research at the Centre. High blood pressure is more common among people living with HIV than HIV-negative people in North America, but the reverse is true in Africa and Asia, according to a review of the evidence led by Manicaland Centre researchers. In this post, Manicaland Centre postgraduate researcher Katherine Davis explains the findings. High blood pressure is among the leading causes of death and disability globally. With improved HIV treatment, people living with HIV are beginning to age and develop chronic conditions, including high blood pressure. Nevertheless, it has been unclear whether people living with HIV are more likely to have high blood pressure than HIV-negative people. To bridge this data gap, we systematically reviewed the results from 59 studies of HIV and high blood pressure in adults. We found that high blood pressure is less common among people living with HIV than HIV-negative people globally. However, there are substantial differences by region. In North America, high blood pressure is more common among people living with HIV than HIV-negative people. By contrast, in Africa and Asia high blood pressure is more common among HIV-negative people than people living with HIV. Lastly, in South America and Europe, there isn’t evidence of a difference between people living with HIV and HIV-negative people.  A woman has her blood pressure measured. It is interesting to consider why we see these differences between regions. One possible explanation relates to diversity in the amount of time that people are exposed to both HIV and HIV treatment. For example, in North America access to HIV treatment and survival of people living with HIV remains better than in Africa and Asia. This may mean that more people have long term exposure to HIV and HIV treatment in North America, which could increase their risk of high blood pressure. Whatever the explanation for the differences, there are important policy ramifications to our findings. In areas with greater burdens of high blood pressure among people living with HIV, targeted prevention of high blood pressure needs to be scaled up. Promoting healthy diets, exercise, avoidance of tobacco, and reduction of alcohol consumption to people living with HIV could have a large impact. Ensuring that people living with HIV can easily access testing and treatment for high blood pressure through integrated, friendly services will also be key. In regions where the burden of high blood pressure is lower and deaths related to AIDS remain common, boosting access to HIV care must continue to be a priority. However, policymakers should also recognise that if access is successfully increased, the population of people living with HIV will age and it is likely that the burden of high blood pressure among people living with HIV will increase. Acting now to bolster prevention and train community healthcare workers in managing high blood pressure could be useful preparation for this.  An infographic from the World Health Organisation about preventing high blood pressure. In addition to consequences for policy, our study also has implications for research. Despite a systematic search, we could only find two studies exploring the link between HIV and high blood pressure in Asia. New studies across a range of Asian countries are needed to give us a clearer picture of the relationship between HIV and high blood pressure in the region.  Countries with studies that were included in our review. With the evidence available today, it is clear that the burden of high blood pressure in people living with HIV varies by region. Our results emphasise the need for expanded prevention and care for high blood pressure, which is tailored to local contexts. Read the systematic review: Association between HIV infection and hypertension: a global systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies. Author Katherine is a postgraduate researcher on the Wellcome Trust PhD Programme in Epidemiology, Evolution and Control of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London. Her work with the Manicaland Centre focuses on non-communicable diseases and mental health. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @kd_katdavis |
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