Today, women and girls account for more than half of the people living with HIV globally and one out of every five new HIV infections happens among adolescent girls and young women due to vulnerabilities created by cultural and socio-economic barriers.
For instance, Statista report showed that in 2021, 1.9 million people in Nigeria were living with HIV, with women the most affected group, counting 1.1 thousand individuals.
This is even as Professor Morenike Ukpong, has dedicated over the last 21 years in advocating for people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
Morenike is a renowned National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) consultant and a researcher at the Obafemi Awolowo University whose work has informed multiple HIV and research bioethics. She has participated in several agenda setting initiatives related to policy formulation, design, implementation, analysis and reporting on HIV/AIDS at the national, regional and international level.
Morenike has made 118 conference presentations, many of which includes presentations addressing the needs of key and vulnerable populations.
She was recognised as the 19th of 28 top academic researchers in Nigeria in 2018 and 11th of the top published 41 academic researchers in Nigeria in 2019. Her research work that highlighted the psychological and sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents living with HIV in collaboration with a non-governmental organization led to the development of the first national HIV policy addressing the programmatic HIV needs for adolescents in Nigeria in 2014.
Morenike has worked for the field of HIV and AIDS research, capacity building and advocacy with her work spanning over Nigeria, Africa and internationally. This includes efforts at building local and international capacity to address community involvement in HIV prevention research including my past work with the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) as the Community Liaison, and her current role with the Nigeria Canada AIDS Vaccine (NICCAV) Research Project in Nigeria and the national feasibility study on the use of PrEP as part of the combination prevention tool for serodiscordant couples in Nigeria.
Locally, she has worked extensively to build local capacity for CSOs, communities, academia and Health Research Ethics Committees to engage with HIV prevention research thorough the design and implementation of bioethics and research literacy trainings.
Her work in the community brings her directly in contact with Key Affected Populations. This include her 12 years work on research literacy through Coordination of Programmes for the New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society and her participation as the leads consultant for MARPs during the 2013 evaluation of the global fund supported interventions to HIV & AIDS response in Nigeria.
The researcher has also conducted several monitoring and evaluations project within and outside Nigeria. This includes the 2010 impact evaluation of the African Regional capacity building Network for HIVand AIDS prevention, treatment and care project (ARCAN) in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia; the 2013 midterm review of the World Bank HIV project in Nigeria; the 2013 midterm report of the national achievement on the UNAIDS ten target; the development of the 2017 to 2021 National HIV and AIDS Strategic plan, and the 2018-2020 National HIV Prevention Plan.
Morenike has participated in several agendasetting initiatives relating to biomedical HIV prevention technology research and ethics issues internationally, including serving as temporary adviser to the WHO and UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva on several occasions. She was a member of the biennial Microbicide Conference, the AIDS2031 Science and Technology Working Group Member and the African AIDS Vaccine Programme forum.
She currently serve as a member of the National HIV Prevention Technical Working Group, the National HIV Research Reference Group, the National Biomedical HIV Prevention Working Group anf the national Global Fund HIV Operations Research Subcommittee, among others.
She has worked as a consultant to national and international development agencies, including ITAD, Mitchells Group, UNICEF, Society for Family Health, NACA, Population Council, WHO and UNAIDS on several of these projects. She has also worked in a number of Africa countries including Kenya, Bostwana and Malawi.
Morenike is a sectional editor with the BMC Oral Health,a member of the Editorial Board, Global Bioethics and and International Adviser for the Community Dental Health Journal and alsos erve as the Managing Editor of the Nigeria Journal of Health Sciences, the official Journal of theCollege of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
She is currently working on starting a Global Health Initiative Programme, as effort to improve health outcomes of people all over the world.
Morenike had her BChD in 1989 and MBA in 1998 at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; West African College of Surgeons in 2001 and MEd in 2020 at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus.
She is a member of the Nigerian Dental Association; Nigerian Medical Association; International Association of Paediatric Dentist; Fellow, West African College of Surgeon; Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria; International AIDS Society (31319) and Fellow Level 5, Global Health Trials Professional Membership, among others.
She was lecturer 1, and associate lecturer, Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria from 2002 to 2005; senior lecturer, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria from 2005 to 2008; a visiting associate professor of International Studies to Brown University and the current dean, Dentistry Faculty of Obafemi Awolowo University.
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