For a better experience, click the Compatibility Mode icon above to turn off Compatibility Mode, which is only for viewing older websites.

Alex Ezeh, PhD

Alex Ezeh

Dornsife Professor of Global Health
Community Health and Prevention
267.359.6137
ace86@drexel.edu
Download CV

Degrees

BSc, Imo State University, Sociology; MSc, University of Ibadan, Sociology; MA, University of Pennsylvania, Demography; PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Demography

Bio

Alex Ezeh, PhD, is professor of Global Health in the Department of Community Health and Prevention at the Dornsife School of Public Health. Dr. Ezeh brings decades of experience in research, research capacity strengthening, and policy advocacy on a range of global health and development issues.

He comes to Dornsife from the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) where he served as the founding Executive Director and, over a period of 17 years, guided APHRC to become one of Africa’s foremost regional research center addressing population, health, education and development issues. He initiated and directed the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa and the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship programs to strengthen doctoral training and the retention of academics at universities across sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Ezeh’s work focuses on urban/slum health, population dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa, and models to strengthen knowledge-based institutions in Africa. His research has highlighted the development implications of SSA’s population and urbanization trends, underscored the unique vulnerabilities slum populations face, defined the systems (education, health, economic, etc.) that best serve slum populations, and has ensured slum populations become more visible in national and global reports and data systems. His work on strengthening knowledge-based institutions is focused on addressing the undermined capacity of African institutions resulting from century-old systems of unequal partnerships with institutions in the global North.

Dr. Ezeh provides guidance to a range of institutions. In January 2021 he was appointed as a Member of the High-Level Advisory Board for Economic and Social Affairs of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. He also serves as a member of the WHO’s Human Reproduction Programme Alliance for Research Capacity Strengthening Advisory Board and University College London and Imperial College’s London Research Hub for Urban Sustainability, Health and Equity; and on the Visiting Committee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He also serves on the Boards of Development Initiative and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie). Dr. Ezeh has been part of several Lancet Commissions including the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health, the Lancet Commission on the Future of Health in Africa, and he Co-Chaired the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. He is also a member of the Vatican-Lancet-Mario Negri Commission on the Value of Life and the Lancet Nigeria Commission on Investing in Health and the Future of the Nation.

Dr. Ezeh is honorary professor of public health at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and holds an honorary Doctor of Science from University of Ibadan (Nigeria) and KCA University (Kenya), and a doctorate in demography from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is the recipient of the World Academy of Sciences 2018 Prize for the Social Sciences and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s 2020 George Macdonald Medal.

Research Interests

  • Global/International Health
  • Urban Health
  • Longitudinal Research Designs and Methods
  • Reproductive and Sexual Health
  • Population Change and Its Drivers
  • Health Systems Research
  • Research Capacity Strengthening

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Fonn S., Ray S., Couper I., Ezeh A. et al. Acceptability and feasibility of inter-related activities to improve agency among District Health Managers in Africa: A four-country study. Global Public Health (forthcoming).

Tolu L.B., Feyissa G.T., Ezeh A.C. Vertical transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: A scoping review. PLOS ONE (forthcoming).

Feyissa G.T., Tolu L.B., and Ezeh A.C. COVID-19 death reporting inconsistencies and working lessons for Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Opinion. Frontiers in Medicine, Feb. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.595787

Sarki A.M., Ezeh A., and Stranges S. (2020). Uganda as a role model for pandemic containment in Africa. American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 110(12): 1800-1802. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305948

Ezeh A., Kissing F.., and Singer P. Why sub-Saharan Africa might exceed its projected population size by 2100. The Lancet, July 2020. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31522-1

Fonn, S., Hu J., … and Ezeh A. (2020). Quantifying the cost of in-kind contributions to a multi-donor-funded health research capacity-building programme: the case of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa. BMJ Global Health, 5(6):e002286. DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002286

Feyissa G.T., Tolu L.B., Ezeh A. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Mitigation Measures: The Case of Ethiopia. African Journal of Reproductive Health. 2020 Aug 11;24(2)

Tolu L.B., Feyissa G.T., Ezeh A., Gudu W. Managing Resident Workforce and Residency Training During COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review of Adaptive Approaches. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2020;11: 527-535

Tolu L.B., Ezeh A., Feyissa G.T. How Prepared Is Africa for the COVID-19 Pandemic Response? The Case of Ethiopia; Risk Management and Healthcare Policy; 2020,13:771-776

Khisa A.M., Ngure P., … Ezeh A., and Fonn S. (2019). Gender responsive multidisciplinary doctoral training program: the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) experience. Global Health Action 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1670002

Lilford R., Kyobutungi C., Ndugwa R., Sartori J., Watson S.I., Sliuzas R., Kuffer M., Hofer M., de Albuquerque J.P., Ezeh A. (2019). Because space matters: conceptual framework to help distinguish slum from non-slum urban areas. BMJ Glob Health; 4:e001267. https://doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2018-00126

Amo-Adjei J., Mutua M., Mukiira C., Mutombo N., Athero S., Ezeh A., Izugbara C. (2019). Fertility intentions and the adoption of long-acting and permanent contraception (LAPM) among women: evidence from Western Kenya. BMC Women's Health, 19:26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0716-3

Dianatia K., Zimmermanna N., Milnerb J., Muindi K., Ezeh A., Chege M., Mberu B., Kyobutungi C., Fletcher H., Wilkinson P., Davies M. (2019). Household air pollution in Nairobi's slums: A long-term policy evaluation using participatory system dynamics. Science of The Total Environment, 660:1108-1134. https://DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.430

Project Reports

Ezeh A.C. and Lu J. Transforming the Institutional Landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa: Considerations for Leveraging Africa’s Research Capacity to Achieve Socioeconomic Development. CGD Policy Paper 147, July 2019. Center for Global Development, Washington, DC.

Editorials, Commentaries and Reviews

Ezeh A. and Fonn S. (2020). Sub-Saharan Africa needs to plug local knowledge gap to up its anti-COVID-19 game. The Conversation Africa.

Ezeh A. and Feyissa G.T. (2019). What’s driving Africa’s population growth. And what can change it. The Conversation Africa.

Ezeh A. (2019). Fresh drive to close gaps on health issues facing women and girls. The Conversation Africa.

Book Chapters

Ezeh A. and Mberu B. (2019). Case Studies in Urban Health, Nairobi, Kenya. In Galea S, Ettman CK, and Vlahov D, (eds.); Urban Health, Chapter 36. Oxford University Press.

Ezeh, A., Mberu, B., and Beguy, D. (2017). Migration, Urbanization, and Slums in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Groth, H. and May, J.F. (eds.), Africa’s Population: In Search of a Demographic Dividend. Springer

Ezeh A., Bankole A., Cleland J., García-Moreno C., Temmerman M., and Ziraba A.K. (2016). “Burden of Reproductive Ill Health”. Chapter 2 in Black, R. E., R. Laxminarayan, M. Temmerman, and N. Walker, editors. 2016. Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. Disease Control Priorities, third edition, volume 2. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0348-2. Pp. 25-50.

Peer-reviewed research articles in Google Scholar