Dr. Victoria Mwakalinga Chuma

Victoria obtained her PhD in Public Health in 2017 at the University of Witwatersrand, and MSc in Urban Planning and Management in 2015 at the University of Dar es Salaam. She is currently working as a Lecturer at Ardhi University, School of Spatial Planning and Social Sciences, teaching undergraduate and supervising post graduate research. Victoria is also leading a research studying the nexus between built environment, lifestyle and NCDs prevalence in Dar es Salaam City. For about 8 years, she worked for Ifakara Health Institute in Malaria Transmission Consortium and African Vector Control: New Tools projects as a Health Geographer. Victoria has been involved in simple and advanced spatial analyses of different data to map risk of disease transmission such as malaria and HIV, and model their associated factors. Her expertise includes design of spatial data collection tools, participatory mapping as a community tool for targeting mosquito larvae, monitoring and evaluation programs and preparation of reports such as the Tanzania malaria profile for national regulatory authorities. Her research interest includes the application of spatial statistical methods in urban health research to improve identifications of vulnerable groups or locations that require spatial targeting of interventions; apart from using this in urban malaria which she which she has been engaged for about seven years. Her current interest will be broadened to include non-communicable diseases.