Melvin Simuyaba

Melvin Simuyaba holds a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Zambia and a Masters in Public Health from the University of the Western Cape. He started his PhD at ACMS in 2025, and his research is nested in the Nurture4Youth study, which focuses on migrant young people and access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in two urban communities in Zambia. Melvin’s interest in research involving adolescents and young people (AYP) and SRH stems from previous work on child protection and rights advocacy. His research career began at Zambart, a Zambian research organisation, and has focused on social behavioural research in HIV, adolescent sexual reproductive health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) studies. He has experience in conducting research with AYP, including engaging young people in identifying approaches for improving uptake and access to SRH services and advocating for better WASH services using co-design, citizen science and participatory research approaches. His research interests are on mobile populations, HIV risk behaviours, use of HIV treatment as prevention, adolescents, SRH and marginalised populations.