Horace Degnonvi, PhD

Visiting Researcher
Working Group: Infectious Disease Epidemiology

"I am a global health expert and epidemiologist working at the intersection of neglected tropical diseases, the climate–health nexus, and clinical prediction modelling.

In 2019, I published the first causal evidence linking household water infrastructure to Buruli ulcer incidence in West Africa (The Lancet Planetary Health), a result since taken up in WHO programme recommendations. At the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine in Münster, I now lead the external validation and statistical recalibration of a clinical prediction model for Mycobacterium ulcerans infection, built for settings where laboratory confirmation is slow or simply unavailable.

My work follows three axes: the climate and land-use drivers of neglected tropical diseases, with a focus on skin NTDs; maternal and child health in low-resource settings, including the barriers to gynaecological cancer prevention and screening; and epidemiological modelling that turns climate variability into usable estimates of disease risk. They share one population, one methodological framework, and one purpose - producing African-led evidence solid enough to inform the agencies that shape health policy on the continent.

I am a Researcher and Scientific Collaborator at CR3 – Health Policies and Systems, International Health (POLISSI), School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, and an Associate Professor at the University of Abomey-Calavi. I also serve on the WHO Skin NTDs Working Group (Epidemiology and Surveillance)."

Contact:
+49 174 9420136
horace.degnonvi@uni-muenster.de