Biomedical
Research Institute
About FMHS Research
In recent years, the FMHS has proactively pursued research as a vehicle for positive social change and students and students and staff have been guided towards a research agenda focused on the major health challenges in Africa.
The FMHS has a reputation for high-level medical and health sciences research built over decades of diligent and persistent effort. The Faculty continues to perform as a leading research-rich environment with extensive international collaborations, in addition to national and local partnerships. Our research agenda is shaped by strategic research focus areas that ensure the Faculty's research activities address the major health challenges facing the African continent.
Our current research priorities are aligned with the national government's strategies for improved healthcare and increasing human resources for health (including increasing the number of people with PhDs in the health sciences).
Our research focuses primarily on the National Department of Health's quadruple burden of disease, the four groups of conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality in South Africa, namely: (1) HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases; (2) maternal and child health; (3) non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases); and (4) violence, injury and trauma.