Affiliation

Specialist Scientist, South African Medical Research Council, South Africa

Address

123 Jan Hofmeyer Road,
Westville, 3630
Durban

Contact

Email: Makandwe.Nyirenda@mrc.ac.za
Telephone:   +27 31 242 3683
Fax:  +27 31 242 3806         

Biosketch

Makandwe Nyirenda has a PhD in Social Statistics and Demography from the University of Southampton, UK. Dr Nyirenda spent over 8 years working with large longitudinal data sets from a surveillance site in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. His research area focused on the direct and indirect effects of HIV on functional ability, emotional well-being, cognitive ability, disability and care-giving in older adults aged 50 years and above. Dr. Nyirenda recently joined the South African Medical Research Council working where his focus areas are on HIV prevention and management in high risk populations.

Key research/capacity building interests

Research Interests

• Effect of HIV and HIV treatment on functional disability, cognitive wellbeing and mental health of older people
• Sexual behaviour and partnership patterns in older adults
• Impact of care-giving on health & wellbeing of older adults
• STI and HIV incidence in old age

CapacityBuildingInterests

• Masters and doctoral dissertation supervision
• Capacity building of research interns and junior scientists
• Training in quantitative research methods and STATA

Key methodological skills

• Quantitative survey design and analysis
• Longitudinal data analysis
• Multilevel modelling

Current/planned research

• Understanding sexuality and sexual health in old age
• Sexual behaviour and partnership patterns in old age
• STI and HIV incidence in old age

Current capacity building

•  Masters dissertation supervision
• Training in quantitative research methods and STATA