Mary Amuyunzu-Nyamongo is currently the Executive Director and co-founder of the African Institute for Health and Development (AIHD), an organization based in Nairobi, Kenya that conducts research, training and advocacy on health and development issues.
Dr. Amuyunzu-Nyamongo is also the African Regional Coordinator of Health Promotion with the Global Program of Health Promotion Effectiveness, which is funded mainly by the Center for Disease Control through the International Union of Health Promotion and Education. She is also engaged in collaborative research with the International Center for Research on Women, the Swedish Agency for International Development, and the Poverty and Economic Policy Network.
Prior to joining AIHD, Dr. Amuyunzu-Nyamongo was a research scientist with the African Population and Research Center. She also served as a program officer with the Population Council and a senior program officer with the African Medical and Research Foundation. Her first job was with the Kenya Medical Research Institute as a research officer.
Dr. Amuyunzu-Nyamongo has provided consultancy services for the government of Kenya and international development partners on various activities, including the development of a National Social Protection Framework and Policy, Poverty Social Impact Analysis, and the Kenya Country Social Analysis. She has also engaged in program monitoring and evaluation activities. Dr. Amuyunzu-Nyamongo has published widely in the areas of health and development, focusing on HIV/AIDS, gender, youth, mothers and children under-five, rural and urban poverty, and health promotion in general. She also serves on various international committees/boards, including the World Health Organization.
Dr. Amuyunzu-Nyamongo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Nairobi, and a PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
The AIHD was established in 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya by a group of accomplished African researchers and academics. The Institute's main focus is on conducting research, training and advocacy on health and development issues that is contextually relevant to Kenya and to the African continent. The Institute is involved in policy formulation on key development issues such as poverty alleviation, gender, HIV and AIDS, and malaria. To accomplish its various activities, the Institute has the vision of working with communities for better lives, which it seeks to adopt in all its activities. The main focus is on building capacity of community groups; facilitate resourcing from within; and in-building sustainable mechanisms. AIHD is also focused on building capacity of young people to work with communities in all its activities ensuring a generation of trained and capable professionals in community development.