Child health and paediatric infectious disease research in Nigeria
A programme of clinical and population research, built over more than three decades, on child survival, paediatric infectious diseases and kidney health in Nigeria and the wider African setting, grounded in everyday practice in south-western Nigeria.
Each study begins with a question that arises at the bedside: a child with HIV, a preventable newborn death from tetanus, a child's failing kidneys, an adolescent slipping away from HIV care, or a gap between guideline and reality. The work combines clinical audit, observational epidemiology and implementation science, increasingly within international, NIH-funded collaboration, to turn that evidence into care that holds up where health services are most stretched. A central thread runs through it: the infectious diseases that most threaten children in Africa.
Paediatric Infectious Diseases
A cross-cutting focus on the infectious diseases that most threaten children in Nigeria and Africa: HIV in children and adolescents, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, neonatal tetanus, childhood tuberculosis and hepatitis B in neonates, studied to reduce avoidable infection, illness and death in early life.
Neonatal & Newborn Survival
Studies of the leading threats to Nigerian newborns, including admission hypothermia, neonatal tetanus, neonatal seizures and severe jaundice, alongside practical, low-cost interventions such as locally fabricated phototherapy and nurse-led resuscitation training.
Paediatric Nephrology
Her sub-speciality: characterising the burden and patterns of childhood kidney disease, from congenital nephrotic syndrome, acute kidney injury in heart failure and chronic kidney disease to renal function in sickle-cell anaemia, and developing simple, low-cost tools, such as blood-pressure and urinalysis screening, to detect latent kidney disease in children and adolescents early.
PMTCT & HIV-Exposed Infants
Evaluating prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) programmes and the growth and health of HIV-exposed infants. A twelve-year review of 545 mother-infant pairs documented a transmission rate of 2.9 per cent and pinpointed late enrolment into care as a key, modifiable risk.
Adolescent HIV & Mental Health
As a site investigator for the NIH-funded iCARE Nigeria programme, with Northwestern University and Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, contributing to a multi-site trial of peer navigation and text-message support to improve treatment adherence and viral suppression in young people living with HIV, and to qualitative work on the depression, anxiety and stigma carried by adolescents and their caregivers.
Sickle Cell Disease in Children
Research on the haematological complications of sickle cell anaemia in young children, including iron overload, iron-deficiency anaemia and respiratory function, aimed at sharper, lower-cost screening and monitoring.
Collaborative & Global Health
Contributing to international, multi-centre research, including a global collaborative on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with cancer, connecting frontline Nigerian data to wider efforts on children's non-communicable diseases.