About

Mzwandile Mabhala is a professor of public health at the University of Derby, UK.

Previously, he served as a professor of Public Health Epidemiology at the University of Chester School of Medicine. He has also lectured at the University of Liverpool, the University of Oxford Brookes, and the University of Oxford.

He is a Fellow of the Royal society of Medicine, Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health and Member of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

Mzwandile is an expert in researching the social and economic factors contributing to health inequalities and social justice issues. His research primarily focuses on marginalised groups such as people experiencing homelessness, users of new psychoactive substances, and people who rely on food banks. His work has been published widely in international peer-reviewed journals.

He co-edited a book titled ‘Health Improvement and Wellbeing: Strategies for Action', nominated for the British Medical Association's Medical Book Awards 2015, and co-edited Key Concepts in Public Health (2009). In addition, Mzwandile collaborated as Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Investigator (CI) in large interdisciplinary research projects, including the UKPRP-funded PETRA network on Trade and Health.

He holds several board-level roles, including:

• Executive board member of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER)
• Trustee in Sir Halley Stewart Trust (one of the UK research funding organisations) and Redeem Our Communities charity organisation
• Member of the Derby Health and Wellbeing Board, Derbyshire NHS Integrated Care System Research Forum.

He was previously a member of the Cheshire and Merseyside Population Health Board and a member of the Cheshire and Merseyside Marmot Community Advisory Board. He also chaired the (IDLO) project on human rights and healthy diets in East Africa, with a specific geographic focus on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Mzwandile frequently shares his expertise on health inequalities and social justice with national and international organisations, including:

• the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health
• the World Health Organization (WHO)
• Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
• Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER).

He is also an active member of ASPHER's COVID-19 Task Force, specifically the Inequalities and Vulnerabilities Sub-group.

Teaching responsibilities

• Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• Research dissertation
• Communicable disease
• Health Economics
• Principle of Public Health.

Research interests

Socioeconomic and commercial determinants of health inequalities, primarily focusing on underserved population groups.

Membership of professional bodies

• Member of the UK Faculty of Public Health
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health
• Executive board member of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER)
• UK All-party Parliamentary Group on Global Health

Qualifications

PhD Public Health

Recent publications

• Mabhala, M., Esealuka WA, Nwufo AN, Ogoh AC, Olagunju AA, Mabhala CN, Paulus L, Yohannes A, Roberto P, Keeling J: (in press) The experiences of smoking cessation advisors working in a socio-economically deprived area of the UK. BMC Public Health.
• Codd, M.; Barros, H.; Davidovitch, N.; Razum, O.; Mabhala, M.; Kostoulas, P.; Kujundžic Tiljak, M.; Lyubomirova, K.; Conyard, K.F.; Popoola, O.; et al. ASPHER Statement: A New Public Health Curriculum for a “New Normal”. Public Health Reviews 2023, 44, doi:10.3389/phrs.2023.1606539.
• Thow, A.M.; Garde, A.; Winters, L.A.; Johnson, E.; Mabhala, A.; Kingston, P.; Barlow, P. (2022) Protecting noncommunicable disease prevention policy in trade and investment agreements. Bull World Health Organ 2022, 100, 268-275. doi: 10.2471/BLT.21.287395
• Barlow, P.; Sanap, R.; Garde, A.; Winters, L.A.; Mabhala, M.A.; Thow, A.M.(2022) Reassessing the health impacts of trade and investment agreements: A systematic review of quantitative studies, 2016-20. The Lancet. Planetary health 2022, 6, e431-e438, DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00047-X
• Wong, A., Hung, K. K. C., Mabhala, M., Tenney, J. W., & Graham, C. A. (2021). Filling the Gaps in the Pharmacy Workforce in Post-Conflict Areas: Experience from Four Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021 18(15), 8132. DOI 10.3390/ijerph18158132
• Udechukwu, T., Harnett, L., Mabhala, M. A., & Reid, J. (2021). . Retrieved from Brussels: COVID-19 and People Experiencing Homelessness: Reported Measures Implemented in the European Region during the Pandemic: ASPHER Report April 2021
• Reid, J. A., & Mabhala, M. A. (2021). Ethnic and minority group differences in engagement with COVID-19 vaccination programmes - at Pandemic Pace; when vaccine confidence in mass rollout meets local vaccine hesitancy. Isr J Health Policy Res, 10(1), 33. doi:10.1186/s13584-021-00467-9
• Mabhala, M., Esealuka, W. A., Nwufo, A. N., Enyinna, C., Mabhala, C. N., Udechukwu, T., . . . Yohannes, A. (2021). Homelessness Is Socially Created: Cluster Analysis of Social Determinants of Homelessness (SODH) in North West England in 2020.Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(6), 3066 DOI 10.3390/ijerph18063066
• Thow, A.; Garde, A.; Mabhala, M.; Smith, R.; Kingston, P.; Manning, P.; Hunter, D.; Winters, L.; Lincoln, P.; Parish, R. Including public health considerations in trade and investment agreements. European Journal of Public Health 2020, 30, 5.
• Belanteri, R.A.; Hinderaker, S.G.; Wilkinson, E.; Episkopou, M.; Timire, C.; De Plecker, E.; Mabhala, M.; Takarinda, K.C.; Van den Bergh, R. Sexual violence against migrants and asylum seekers. The experience of the MSF clinic on Lesvos island, Greece. PLOS ONE 2020, 15, e0239187.
• O'Hara J, Finnegan A, Dhillon H, Ruiz-Casas L, Pedra G, Franks B, Morgan G, Hebditch V, Jönsson B, Mabhala M., Reic T, Van Thiel I, Ratziu V, Romero-Gomez M, Bugianesi E, Schattenberg JM, Anstee QM (2020) Cost of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in Europe and the USA: the GAIN study. JHEP Reports.
• Nnate D, Mabhala M. A., Massey A (2020) Effectiveness of nitric oxide agents in preventing the early onset of pre-eclampsia and possible modification of metabolic factors in high-risk pregnancies: a systematic review protocol. JBI Evidence Synthesis. doi: 10.11124/JBISRIR-D-19-00290
• Moudachirou R, Van Cutsem G, Chuy R, Tweya H, Senkoro M, Mabhala, M., Zolfo M (2020) Retention and sustained viral suppression in HIV patients transferred to community refill centres in Kinshasa, DRC. Public Health Action. 10:1. DOI: 
• Mabhala M. A., Yohannes A, Massey A, Reid JA. (2020) Mind your language: Discursive practices produce unequal power and control over infectious disease: A critical discourse analysis. International Journal of Preventive Medicine. 11: 37. 
• Mabhala, M, Yohannes, A (2019). Being at the bottom rung of the ladder in an unequal society: Qualitative analysis of stories of people without a home. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(23), 4620.
• Machekera S M, Wilkinson E, Mabhala, M., Zishiri C, Ncube RT, Sandy C, Timire C, Takarinda KC, Sengai T, Hinderaker SG (2019) A comparison of the yield and relative cost for Zimbabwean and WHO- recommended active case finding algorithms. Public Health Action, 9(2) 63 -62 doi: 10.5588/pha.18.0098
• Belanteri RA, Hinderaker SG, Wilkinson E, Episkopou M, Timire C, De Plecker E, Mabhala, M., Takarinda KC, Van den Bergh R (in Press) Sexual Violence against migrants and asylum seekers. The experience of the MSF clinic on Lesvos Island, Greece. Plos One, x(x), x-xx.
• Ruiz, l., Willock, R., Russell, T., Morgan, G., O'Hara, J., Anstee, Q., . . . Mabhala, M. (2019). PS-058-The socioeconomic burden of NASH in Europe and the United States: The gain study. Journal of Hepatology, 70(1), e35-e36. doi:10.1016/S0618-8278(19)30064-7
• Chiku C; Zolfo M, Santoro M, Mabhala, M., Tweya H, Musasa P, Shukusho F D, Mazarura E, Mushavi A, Mangwanya D (2019) Common causes of EID sample rejection in Zimbabwe and how to mitigate them. Plos one, 14(8): e0210136. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210136
• Akata E, Mabhala MA, Cooper H, Bowen-Jones D (2016) A meta-analysis of type 1 diabetes mellitus, all-cause and cause-specific mortality. PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews. 
• Nnate, D Massey, A., Mabhala, M (2018) Effectiveness of nitric oxide agents in preventing the early onset of pre-eclampsia and possible modification of metabolic factors in high-risk pregnancies. PROSPERO [CRD42018099298]
• Mabhala, M. (2018). Being at the bottom rung of the ladder in an unequal society: Qualitative analysis of stories of people without a home. The European Journal of Public Health 28(suppl_4) DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/cky213.276
• Mabhala, M. A., Yohannes, A. (2018) New psychoactive substances (NPS): A cross-sectional study on the extent of their use, accessibility and public awareness, and their associated health and social harms, in an East Midlands (UK) local authority. AASCIT Journal of Health, 5(3), 69-77.
• Mabhala, M. A. (2017). New psychoactive substances: The use and the associated health and social harm in Telford and Wrekin. European Journal of Public Health, 27(3)
• Mabhala, M., Babanumi, M., Olagunju, A., Akata, E., & Yohannes, A. (2017). Evaluating the use of vitamin D supplementation to improve glycaemic outcome in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: A systematic review of evidence. Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 7, 223-240.
• Mabhala, M. A., Yohannes, A., & Griffith, M. (2017). Social conditions of becoming Homelessness: Qualitative analysis of life stories of homeless people. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16, 150.
• Mabhala, M. A., Kingston, P., Ellahi, B., & Massey, A. (2016). Understanding the determinants of Homelessness through examining the life stories of homeless people and those who work with them: A qualitative research protocol. Diversity & Equality in Health and Care, 13(4), 284-289.
• Tanton, J., Dodd, L. J., Woodfield, L., & Mabhala, M. A. (2015). Eating behaviours of British university students: A cluster analysis on a neglected issue. Advances in Preventive Medicine, 2015, 1-8
• Mabhala, MA (2015) Public health nurse educators' conceptualisation of public health as a strategy to reduce health inequalities: A qualitative study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 14, 14.
• Odiba, JO, & Mabhala, MA (2015) The effectiveness of glyburide compared to insulin in managing gestational diabetes mellitus: A systematic review. Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 5, 58-66.
• Mabhala, MA (2014) Nurses cannot afford to ignore health inequalities: A qualitative study. Journal of Nursing Care, 3, 7.
• Mabhala, M. A. (2013). Health inequalities as a foundation for embodying knowledge within public health teaching: A qualitative study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 12, 46.
• El Ansari, W., Stock, C., Phillips, C., Mabhala, M. A., et al. (2011). Does the association between depressive symptomatology and physical activity depend on body image perception? A survey of students from seven universities in the UK. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2010, 7, 1-x.
• El Ansari, W., Stock, C., John, J., Deeny, P., Phillips, C., Snelgrove, S., Adetunji, H., Hu, X., Parke, S., & Mabhala, M. A. (2011). Health-promoting behaviours and lifestyle characteristics of students at seven universities in the UK. Central European Journal of Public Health, 19(4), 197-120.
• El Ansari, W., Stock, C., Snelgrove, S., Hu, X., Parke, S., Davies, S., John, J., Adetunji, H., Stoate, M., Deeny, D., Phillips, C., & Mabhala, A. (2011). Feeling healthy? A survey of the physical and psychological wellbeing parameters of students from seven universities in the UK. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7, 8, 1308-1323. doi:10.3390/ijerph8051308
• El Ansari, W., Vodder Clausen, S., Mabhala, M. A., & Stock, C. (2010). How do I look? Body image perceptions among university students from England and Denmark. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7, 583-595.
• Saffin, K., Mabhala, A., & Griffin, M. (2005). Preventing suicide: Priorities for action in Gloucestershire. Summary report. Oxford, UK: Public Health Resource Unit, National Health Service, SIEC No: 20070346