The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a Grand Challenges Explorations Grant worth $100,000 to Chiwoneso Tinago, a Professor of Health at West Chester University, and her research colleagues to develop and test a community-based, peer-support intervention for adolescent mothers in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Grand Challenges initiative fosters early-stage discovery research in an effort to expand the knowledge needed to solve growing global health and development challenges.
Working with adolescent mothers, Tinago’s research team will develop a peer-support group structure that will leverage community health workers, technology, and the involvement of key community stakeholders to help lessen the stigma of adolescent motherhood in Zimbabwe.
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The intervention – which has been specifically designed to develop coping, parenting, and communication skills – builds on previous research conducted by the team with adolescent girls and young women in Zimbabwe.
“I am proud of the work that Assistant Professor Tinago and her colleagues have embarked upon to help uncover viable solutions that will make a difference in the lives of many,” said WCU President Christopher Fiorentino. “We at WCU are honored that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding one of our own for this invaluable research.”
“Chiwoneso is a committed scholar who embraces the College of Health Sciences’ strategic priorities,” said Scott Heinerichs, interim dean for WCU’s College of Health Sciences. “She contributes cutting-edge research and thought leadership to improve public health and well-being, and this project will improve health equity, outcomes, and services within a global context.”
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