Amabélia Rodrigues

Amabélia Rodrigues is a Bissau-Guinean epidemiologist. She is the first female director of the National Institute of Public Health of Guinea-Bissau. She is also the lead research coordinator of the Bandim Health Project.

Biography Rodrigues was born in Guinea-Bissau, the daughter of a police chief who instilled in her a liking towards her studies.

She earned a grant from the government to go and study medicine, in particular in public health at Donetsk National Medical University, in what is now Ukraine. Finishing the course, she decided to return to Guinea-Bissau and begin work as an epidemiologist, at the Directorate-General of Hygiene and with the State Epidemiologist, fighting against the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

During this time period, Guinea-Bissau was beset by a cholera epidemic and Rodrigues, after following recommendations made by the World Health Organization, decided to investigate the factors involving the transmission of bacteria responsible for the spread of disease, in such a manner to develop a group of objectives adapted to the country's specific needs in order to combat the epidemic. With the support of the Bandim Health Project, with which she would become their principal investigator.

She was the first female director of the National Institute of Public Health of Guinea-Bissau, having led the office from 2009 to 2012.

Selected works

2001 - The pattern of cholera disease in Guinea-Bissau: risk factors and local preventive measures 2016 - MHealth to Improve Measles Immunization in Guinea-Bissau: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial 2021 - Chronic political instability and HIV/AIDS response in Guinea-Bissau: a qualitative study