Melisa Dlamini

Melisa Dlamini is pursuing a joint PhD in Public Health at the University of Essex and a PhD in Migration and Displacement at ACMS through the GEMMS Studentship. Her research lies at the intersection of maternal and child health, migration, mental health, gender-based violence (GBV), and health systems in Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Anthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand, an Honours degree in Development Studies from the University of the Western Cape (BankSETA Bursary), and two Master’s degrees; one in Development Studies from the University of the Western Cape and another in Development Management from Ruhr Universität Bochum, Germany, both funded by the DAAD scholarship. Melisa’s doctoral research project examines the continuity of maternal care and coping strategies among young internal and cross-border migrant women in South Africa, with the aim of contributing to efforts to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity. Her work seeks to advance the discourse on maternal health systems in low-resource and high-mobility countries. Melisa is also an emerging evaluator with over six years of experience as a qualitative researcher, working on issues related to migration, public health, and gender in Southern Africa.