Musa Manganye, SANAC’s national manager of the Migrant and Mobile Population HIV Prevention Programme, was recently named one of the winners of a National Health Scholars Programme PhD scholarship by the national Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. The National Health Scholars Programme PhD Scholarships is a Social Compact in the Healthcare System initiative of the National Health Research Committee (NHRC), led by the Health Department, Medical Research Council and a number of healthcare companies.
One of the key recommendations in the 2011 National Health Research Summit Report is to build human resources for health research through a large-scale PhD programme for all health professional categories with degree-based qualifications. The aim, as proposed by the National Health Research Committee, is to fund the education and training of 1,000 PhDs in health sciences over the next 10 years. The intention of this scheme is to contribute to staff development and succession planning programmes in academic health complexes and other governmental and non-governmental organs that are involved in knowledge production.
Musa has registered for a Doctorate in Public Health: Health Systems Management and Policy through the University of Limpopo (MEDUNSA Campus). His research, a randomised controlled trial based in Mamelodi, focuses on a social cognitive theory-based intervention to reduce alcohol-related HIV risk behaviour among young adults and since this type of research requires funding support to enable completion and determination of its efficacy, the National Health Scholars’ Programme PhD scholarship will be put to good use.
In building his career horizon, Musa aspires to be an integral part of a dynamic institution and a progressive team where creative thinking and collaboration solves public health problems and contributes to the well-being of society. Musa acknowledges that HIV and AIDS continue to be among our most serious problems in public health globally, and his interest lies in combating the spread of new HIV infections through screening and development of community-based interventions focusing on the relationship between alcohol-related sexual risk behaviours and HIV/AIDS.