Deborah Nyirenda

Biographic Data

ID7989915
NAMEDeborah Nyirenda
GIVEN NAMESDeborah
FAMILY NAMENyirenda
SIGNATURENYIRENDA D
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Liverpool
ORCID0000-0002-5867-4687
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS18
TOTAL CITATIONS0
WORKS AS AUTHOR18
WORKS AS EDITOR0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2018
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX0

  • A qualitative study to explore women’s perceptions of pregnancy and antenatal care in Chizenga village, Chikwawa, Malawi

    Open AccessHelen Layton, Deborah Nyirenda et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    National survey data indicate that only around one quarter of women in Malawi attend their first antenatal care (ANC) visit during the first trimester. This study explores women’s perceptions of ANC in Chizenga village, Chikwawa, a rural setting with high maternal mortality and low ANC uptake. Using an interpretivist qualitative design, 14 pregnant women aged 18–44 years were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were c…

  • Acceptability of advanced Controlled Human Infection Models

    Open AccessAnthony E Chirwa, Charity Gunda et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    Controlled Human Infection Models (CHIM) in which volunteers are experimentally exposed to pathogens are used to study pathogenesis and down select among treatment and vaccine candidates. Scientifically, CHIM studies are best conducted among at-risk populations in which the infection is endemic, and who are likely to benefit from new interventions tested. Ethically, the perspectives of these communities should be carefully considered in designing…

  • Co-creating community-driven solutions and policy priorities to address antimicrobial resistance through Responsive Dialogues

    Open AccessHenry Sambakunsi, MacWellings Phiri et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    Inappropriate antibiotics use due to low public knowledge and awareness contributes to the growing Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) burden, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim of Responsive Dialogues (RDs) is to engage communities and key stakeholders to share information, galvanize action and create local solutions to reduce the burden of AMR. RDs promote collaborative problem-solving and have been identified as a poten…

  • ‘Responsive Dialogues’, an engagement framework for antimicrobial resistance

    Open AccessBhensri Naemiratch, Anne Osterrieder et al.ARTICLEGlobal Health Action2026

    Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health crisis requiring multisectoral responses that extend beyond biomedical interventions. Participatory approaches can ensure that policies and practices reflect community realities, yet evidence from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains limited. To examine how the Responsive Dialogues (RD) framework was implemented in Malawi and Thailand, and to identify lessons on adapting participatory …

  • Caregiver dynamics and factors affecting health-seeking behaviors for childhood diarrhea in Mukuru informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya

    Open AccessRahma Osman, Eric Ndombi et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2025

    Background Diarrheal disease is the third leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 years globally. Approximately 1.7 billion diarrheal cases are reported annually resulting in more than 400,000 deaths in children under five. Sub-Saharan Africa still harbors populations with the highest global mortality rates for diarrhea accounting for approximately 60% of all diarrheal deaths in this age group. In Kenya, diarrhea significantl…

  • Life from death

    Open AccessHalina Suwalowska, Michael Parker et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2025

    BOX Uterus transplantation (UTx) from deceased donors is a novel reproductive technology that has led to successful births globally

  • Evidence needs and community involvement in policy decisions for vaccine-preventable diarrhoeal infections among children under the age of five years

    Open AccessChikondi A Mwendera, Maxwell Phiri et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Diarrhoeal diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under five years in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with Shigella and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), both targets of ongoing vaccine development, playing major roles. To inform the introduction of vaccines against these pathogens in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi, we assessed evidence needs for technical policy decisions and community engagement in n…

  • Self-management of chronic conditions including multimorbidity in sub-Saharan Africa

    Open AccessSangwani Salimu, Melissa Taylor et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    The increasing prevalence of multimorbidity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is an urgent concern for health service delivery, yet little is known about how best to support self-management- the tasks patients and carers take to maintain physical and mental health in this context. This review synthesized qualitative evidence that describes self-management of four chronic conditions- HIV, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and hypertension, including mul…

  • Enhanced or hindered research benefits? A realist review of community engagement and participatory research practices for non-communicable disease prevention in low- and middle-income countries

    Open AccessSonja Klingberg, Bipin Adhikari et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2024

    INTRODUCTION: Community engagement and participatory research are widely used and considered important for ethical health research and interventions. Based on calls to unpack their complexity and observed biases in their favour, we conducted a realist review with a focus on non-communicable disease prevention. The aim was to generate an understanding of how and why engagement or participatory practices enhance or hinder the benefits of non-commun…

  • Community engagement and the centrality of ‘working relationships’ in health research

    Open AccessRobin Vincent, Dorcas Kamuya et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2024

    Community engagement (CE) is widely accepted as a critical aspect of health research because of its potential to make research more ethical, relevant and well implemented. Although CE activities linked to international health research involving Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs; see author note) have proliferated and are increasingly described in published literature, there is a lack of conceptual clarity around how engagement is understood …

  • Improving care pathways for children with severe illness through implementation of the Aspire mHealth primary Etat package in Malawi

    Open AccessNicola Desmond, Marc Y R Henrion et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2024

    Providing emergency care in low resource settings relies on delivery by lower cadres of health workers (LCHW). We describe the development, implementation and mixed methods evaluation of a mobile health (mHealth) triage algorithm based on the WHO Emergency, Triage, Assessment, and Treatment (ETAT) for primary-level care. We conducted an observational study design of implementation research. Key stakeholders were engaged throughout implementation.…

  • “Why take the patient back home?”

    Open AccessAlinane Linda Nyondo-Mipando, Deborah Nyirenda et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2023

    The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to have serious health and socio-economic consequences. In Malawi, COVID-19 cases are managed at home, with hospital admission reserved for severe cases. This study described the lived experiences of caregivers of COVID-19-infected individuals in Blantyre, Malawi. This descriptive qualitative study was conducted from January to June 2021 in Blantyre, Malawi, among caregivers of confirmed…

  • ‘Why would they spend all this money and give us these items for free?’

    Open AccessJane Ardrey, Kate Jehan et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2023

    We carried out a qualitative study to gain a deeper understanding of the social context of the Cooking and Pneumonia Study (CAPS) and implications for implementation of clean cooking and similar interventions. Such initiatives are recognised as complex, power-laden processes, which has consequences for outcomes and uptake. However, understanding of how precarious livelihoods and unequal power differentials impact on trials of technology is limite…

  • Power and Powerlessness in a Group Based Digital Story Telling Project-An Exploration of Community Perceptions of Health Concerns in Urban Malawi

    Open AccessDeborah Nyirenda, Chipiliro Payesa et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2022

    Digital Story Telling (DST) is an art-based research method used to explore embodied experience of health and initiate dialogue with under-represented groups on issues affecting them. It involves engaging participants to create and share their stories using photos, drawings, and audio recordings in short videos. Benefits of DST include enhancing co-creation of knowledge, empowering participants to confront dominant narratives and revise inaccurat…

  • A critical examination of research narratives ‘rumours’ and passive community resistance in medical research

    Open AccessDeborah Nyirenda, Sakari Sariola et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2022

    Several studies in Africa have reported effects of ‘rumours, misconceptions or misinformation’ on medical research participation and uptake of health interventions. As such, community engagement has sometimes been used for instrumental purposes to enhance acceptability of research or interventions and prevent ‘rumours’. This paper seeks to highlight the value of ongoing engagement with communities to understand research narratives ‘rumours’ repro…

  • Labouring’ on the frontlines of global health research

    Open AccessBusisiwe Nkosi, Jennifer I Van Nuil et al.ARTICLEGlobal Public Health2022

    Drawing on the reflections and discussions from a special session at the 2021 Global Health Bioethics Network summer school, this paper has summarised the key challenges faced by Frontline Workers (FWs) across research sites in Africa and Asia in performing the everyday 'body work' entailed in operationalising global health research. Using a 'body work' lens, we specifically explore and map key challenges that FWs face in Africa and Asia and the …

  • Public engagement in Malawi through a health-talk radio programme ‘ Umoyo nkukambirana ’

    Open AccessDeborah Nyirenda, Tamara Chipasula Makawa et al.ARTICLEPublic Understanding of Science2018

    Radio is an effective source of health information in many resource poor countries. In Malawi, 53% of households own radios however few radio programmes in Malawi focus on health issues in the context of medical research. An interactive health-talk radio programme ‘ Umoyo nkukambirana’ was introduced by Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme on a national radio station. The aim was to increase awareness of health and medical …

  • ‘We are the eyes and ears of researchers and community’

    Open AccessDeborah Nyirenda, Sakari Sariola et al.ARTICLEDeveloping World Bioethics2018

    Community engagement to protect and empower participating individuals and communities is an ethical requirement in research. There is however limited evidence on effectiveness or relevance of some of the approaches used to improve ethical practice. We conducted a study to understand the rationale, relevance and benefits of community engagement in health research. This paper draws from this wider study and focuses on factors that shaped Community …