Francisca Mutapi, Deputy Director, NIHR Global Health Research Unit Programme: Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa

Professor Francisca Mutapi is a Board member of Uniting to Combat NTDs, a global advocacy organisation that exist to end neglected tropical disease by mobilising resources in support of the World Health Organization's NTD road map and the Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Mutapi is also a Professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity, Deputy Director of TIBA (Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa) Partnership and co-Director of the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Mutapi conducts and leads basic scientific research that has had an extraordinary impact on the policy, practice and implementation of neglected tropical disease (NTD) control, especially in Africa. She has contributed to shaping national and global NTD policies by working closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and local governments in affected countries, impacting millions of lives. Her work on paediatric schistosomiasis made a major contribution to the WHO recommending screening and treatment of pre-school children in 2012.