Ndola ​Prata, MD, MSc

Biography

Ndola Prata is a public health physician and medical demographer from Angola. She earned her medical degree from the University of Angola and an MSc in medical demography from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She began her career practicing medicine in Angola for 10 years and served as Head of the Social Statistics Department at the National Institute of Statistics of Angola. Shortly after moving to the US, while beginning her tenure as a researcher and lecturer at UC Berkeley, she served as a Demographer/Analyst for CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health for six years, a role she resumed briefly from 2010 to 2011. Prata’s current research is based in sub-Saharan Africa, she is especially interested in family planning, abortion, reproductive health, women’s health, and empowerment and maternal mortality. Her research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of family planning and maternal health interventions that maximize distribution and financing mechanisms to increase access to contraceptives in developing countries, particularly for the underserved populations. Her projects investigate strategies for harnessing existing resources, including human capacity and health care infrastructure while also gathering evidence for setting priorities on national health agendas. Dr. Prata teaches courses and has published extensively on topics related to family planning, financing and ability to pay for reproductive health programs, the role of the private sector in health care, adolescent sexual behavior in developing countries, priorities for maternal health, the use of misoprostol in obstetrics and women’s empowerment, fertility and family planning.

Research Interests

• Access and financing of reproductive health, family planning, and maternal health services in developing countries
• The role of the private sector
• Adolescent reproductive health services in developing countries
• Maternal mortality in resource-scarce settings: measurement; what works; how to prioritize interventions; task shifting and sharing current projects
• Estimating maternal mortality using community-based approaches
• The use of misoprostol to manage postpartum hemorrhage and treatment of incomplete abortion in developing countries
• Health care delivery systems that serve the poor
• Provision of long term contraceptive methods by a community-based distribution of contraceptives
• Cost-effectiveness in family planning, comprehensive abortion care, and maternal health interventions

Education

• MSc – Medical Demography
  London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London
• Certificate – Prévisions et Perspectives Démographiques (Population Projections and Demographic Methods)
  Université Catholique de Louvain
• Certificate – Using Demographic and Health Data for Health Sector Reform
  Harvard School of Public Health
• Diploma – Demographic Analysis for Development
  Centro Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Demografía (CELADE)
• Doctor of Medicine – Faculty of Medicine
  University of Angola

Publications

• PubMed

Courses Taught

• • PB HLTH 213A
  • Family Planning Population Change and Health
• • PB HLTH 212A
  • International Maternal and Child Health
• • PB HLTH 212E
  • The Role of The Private Sector in Health Care in Developing Countries
• • PB HLTH 181
  • Poverty and Population
• • HMS 298
  • UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program Thesis Seminar