HIV and Disability: Impacting movement from cell to thriving

Professor Hellen Myezwa, Head, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences will deliver her inaugural lecture.

Disability is complex and grips the individual, family and community. In South and East Africa, HIV seems to modulate and compound disability. This lecture exposes the nature, extent and relationship of disability in HIV from the cell to the thriving individual; and explores the interventions and service delivery offerings that have been tested through research over three decades. The experiences of an evidence-based, rehabilitation focused physiotherapist.

Professor Myezwa is an expert in HIV and disability, and she conducted one of the first studies to define the extent of HIV disability in the African setting. Subsequently, she has been involved in research to understand the scope and impact of disability in people living with HIV and has conducted one of the first population-based studies. Additional research projects include understanding the impact of HIV on the risk of ischaemic heart disease and community-based intervention to minimize this risk. The effect of exercise programmes on peripheral neuropathy in HIV and several projects exploring the musculoskeletal function in HIV. In addition to this, Professor Myezwa has expertise in the epidemiology of disability.

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