Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Research (CeSHHAR)

DS-I Africa Networking Exchange meeting 08 April 2026

Presenter: Laura Munthali, laura.munthali@ceshhar.org

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CeSHHAR : DS-I Africa  

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 HE²AT Center

• The Heat and Health African Transdisciplinary (HE²AT) Center : Developing data science solutions to mitigate the health impacts of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa

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Research Project 1: Heat impacts on Maternal, Newborn and Child health

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Research Project 2: Heat-related morbidity in vulnerable urban settings

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Tools

1. Mapping tool:

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This enables the systematic mapping and recoding of health-related variables to align with the HEAT Center's standardized codebook, ensuring consistency, comparability, and ease of integration across datasets.

2. Geolocation tool:

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Enables precise mapping of participant locations during their respective study periods, facilitating accurate assignment of environmental exposures based on time and place.

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3. HE²AT Center Analysis Cluster:

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A centralized platform that facilitates shared access to datasets and analysis code, with built-in access permissions and version control to ensure data integrity, transparency, and collaboration across research teams

Innovative Analytical Tools & Platforms

HarmonAIze toolkit: Integrating AI and data science methodologies , harmonizing heterogeneous health databases and climate data to enable insightful analyses and support research driven decision making in the healthcare domain.

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Dissemination

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�CHaracterizing Effects of Air Quality In Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (CHEAQI–MNCH) in sub-Saharan Africa

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Progress

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Publications/collaborations/presentations

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Daily outdoor PM₂.₅ exposure characterization and road edge effect

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Supplement: Landscape fire smoke and birth outcomes in Africa

ETIQUET – EXtrapolating Temperature and aIr QUality Exposure in Space and Time

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^{CHAC - Africa Climate-Health Policy, Politics governance and Dialogues}

• 1^st - Climate and Health Africa Conference
• Conceptualized, Chaired and convened the 1st CHAC
• Policy engagement (Health and climate ministers and delegates from 34 African countries)
• Harare declaration on Climate change and health
• Stakeholder engagement (leveraging partner projects)
• Co-designing heat health indicators (WHO Geneva, AFRO, Local, meteorology, MOH, Climate ministry etc.)
• Communication strategy (webinars, newsletters etc.)

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Thank you!

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