Charles Shey Wiysonge

Charles Shey Wiysonge is the Director of Cochrane South Africa at the South African Medical Research Council, an Extraordinary Professor of Global Health at Stellenbosch University, and an Honorary Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His previous appointments include Deputy Director of the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care and Professor of Community Health, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; Project Manager of the Vaccines for Africa Initiative and Chief Research Officer, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Chief Research Officer at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, Geneva, Switzerland; Deputy Permanent Secretary, Central Technical Group in charge of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Cameroon; and Medical Epidemiologist, Pasteur Centre of Cameroon, Yaoundé, Cameroon. Professor Wiysonge sits on multiple high-ranking scientific and policy advisory bodies on research, vaccination, and evidence-informed policymaking in South Africa, Africa, and global level. He is rated as an internationally acclaimed researcher by the National Research Foundation of South Africa and his current research is devoted to understanding vaccination barriers in Africa and finding tailored evidence-based solutions to address these barriers.

People cross normally busy—now largely empty—Adderley Street in central Cape Town, South Africa, on April 14, 2020, during the 21-day nationwide lockdown aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus. This is a stunning photo showing a broad main thoroughfare that is completely bereft of cars. Four people are seen crossing the wide street, each silhouetted against the early or late sun reflecting off the asphalt pavement. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
Governance

South Africa’s War on COVID-19

by Charles Shey Wiysonge

Key dates, interventions, and impacts of responses are helping to create a community of practice among African countries

A woman waits at a polio immunization health center in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, on August 29, 2016. There is striking color in this photo. She has a bright orange scarf around her head and shoulders and leans against a brick wall that is painted dark red. She holds pink and blue copies of papers in her hands, and the light blue wall of a building can be seen in the background. She holds a bright red bag. The look on her face is serious. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
Governance

Vaccine Hesitancy, an Escalating Danger in Africa

by Charles Shey Wiysonge

Called one of the ten main threats to global health by WHO, vaccine hesitancy is pervasive, misinformed, and contagious