Evans Sagwa

Institute: Utrecht University
Function: Professional PhD

Class of:

2010

Current affiliation: 

Management Sciences for Health Namibia

Contact:

esagwa@gmail.com

Motivation:

Living in sub-Saharan Africa, I see many patients diagnosed with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis who experience various adverse effects of their treatment. I want to understand better the incidence and prevalence of these adverse effects, their risk-factors and impact on patients’ health-related quality of life.

Education and experience:

Evans Sagwa has over ten years of experience in managing pharmaceutical services and implementing pharmaceutical management programs in the private, public and non-governmental sectors in Kenya, Rwanda and Namibia. He holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy, Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Health. His particular interest is in evaluating real-life effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of medicines and pharmaceutical policy interventions with a focus on the treatment of diseases of public health priority in developing counties. Currently, he works for Management Sciences for Health (MSH), where he is the Country Director for the USAID-funded Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) and the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) projects in Namibia.

Title PhD project:

Safety of Medicines for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment: Is the cure worse than the disease?

PhD project description:

The world is seeing unprecedented numbers of people infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in patients who have previously failed tuberculosis (TB) treatment and also in patients newly diagnosed with TB. Most of these patients live in the low-and middle-income countries. “Left untreated, the infectious disease is lethal, but treatment today puts people through two years of excruciating side effects, including psychosis, deafness and constant nausea, with painful daily injections for up to eight months. Barely half of people get cured” – Press release by Médecins SansFrontières – Access Campaign, March 19, 2013 (msfaccess.org/TBmanifesto). The advent and spread of DR-TB pose a great challenge in the treatment of TB, especially among patients also infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Namibia is an example of a country that is currently coping with a dual burden of HIV and HIV-associated TB. In 2009, 58% of all TB patients were HIV co-infected and 372 cases of DR-TB were reported. This research work, therefore, provides insights into the prevalence; outcome and risk factors of the adverse events associated with the treatment of DR-TB, and explores the potential role of HIV co-infection.

Team members and other people involved:

The National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme (NTLP), Namibia, Dr. Timothy Rennie, School of Pharmacy, University of Namibia

Publications:

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