2008 International Society for Urban Health Board Elections

Candidate for President-Elect

Jean-Christophe Fotso, Ph.D.

I am currently a Member-at-Large on the Executive Board of the ISUH. I am also member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Urban Health. Over the last few years, I have come to understand the challenges and opportunities of the Society. I work at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), an international research institute headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. APHRC puts high emphasis on clarifying the changing linkages between urbanization, population and health. APHRC is an institutional member of ISUH. My main areas of research interest include maternal and child health and nutrition, and poverty and health inequities in developing countries, with special focus on urban areas. Over the last few years, I have led and coordinated a number of studies and projects pertinent to urban health. I have been coordinating the APHRC’s Regional Urban Poverty and Health (RUPH) program, which seeks to provide evidence on the nature and magnitude of urban inequities in health, and to design, implement and evaluate interventions to improve the wellbeing of the urban poor in Africa. I am a co-Principal Investigator on a five-year research program on Urbanization, Poverty and Health Dynamics in Africa, which addresses key health consequences of rapid urbanization and growing urban poverty at different stages of the life course namely childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Other current research projects include a Maternal & Health project on Averting Preventable Maternal Mortality, and an OVC (Orphans Vulnerable Children) project, both conducted among the urban poor in Kenya. At the request of the United Kingdom All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, I recently led a study on the Effects of Population Growth on the Achievement of the MDG on Child Mortality in Urban sub-Saharan Africa.

I hold a PhD in Demography from the University of Montreal, Canada, and an MSc in Statistics from University of Paris VI, France. During my doctoral studies funded by the Mellon Foundation (USA), I was awarded a policy fellowship by the Population Reference Bureau (USA), which allowed me to broaden my expertise to policy research and translation of research into policy. I also received a fellowship from the Population Council (USA). Before joining APHRC, I worked in Cameroon as Senior Statistical Analyst.

It would be an honor for me to serve as ISUH President-Elect. With the combination of my work experience and interest in urban health, I believe I can fulfill effectively the responsibilities attached to the position. My top priorities include –but are not limited to- enhancing the visibility of ISUH in the developing world (Africa, Asia and Latin America), with the aim of increasing the membership both quantitatively and qualitatively; Attraction and retention of key funders for the ICUH; and Investing in strong and sustained partnerships and collaborations with other Societies as well as Institutions working in the field of urban health at the international or regional levels. I am also looking forward to contributing to the organization of an ICUH in a developing country, and make it an unprecedented success.

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