AMARI-II PhD Fellow Honoured at DELTAS Africa 2025 Scientific Meeting
By Amos Batisayi
Adiyam Mulushoa, an AMARI-II PhD fellow based at Addis Ababa University, was recently honoured for her exceptional poster presentation at the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training, and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) Scientific Meeting held from 28 – 30 July 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa.
She received an award for Best Poster Presentation, a demonstration of her approach to addressing critical issues affecting women’s mental health in Africa through her PhD study.
Her presentation was grounded in her PhD research, which is exploring the intersecting roles of poverty, childhood trauma, and social isolation in shaping gender-based violence risk for women with severe mental illness, while placing the voices of women with lived experience at the centre of inquiry and intervention planning.
“My research seeks to fill important gaps in understanding how gender-based violence affects women with severe mental illness, ultimately contributing more to the development of more comprehensive and responsive mental health care systems,” she explained.
Through her research, Adiyam seeks to make a meaningful difference in the lives of vulnerable women, especially in Ethiopia. “My goal is to improve mental health services that are sensitive to the needs of women who face the dual challenges of mental illness and violence. I am also particularly focused on developing interventions tailored for women in low-resource settings and am committed to contributing to mental health policy, particularly in contexts where gender-based violence and mental health intersect,” she said.
Women living with severe mental illness face heightened exposure to gender-based violence yet remain largely invisible in research, policy, and service design.
Gender-based violence is a pervasive public health and human rights issue that disproportionately affects women. Among the most at risk are women living with severe mental illness, who face heightened exposure to gender-based violence yet remain largely invisible in research, policy, and service design.
The DELTAS Africa Scientific Meeting brought together Africa’s leading scientists and stakeholders to advance scientific research and celebrated a decade of transformative impact through the DELTAS Africa programme. It ran under the theme “Decade of Excellence: Advancing Science, Strengthening Partnerships for Africa’s Future”
DELTAS Africa is a programme of the Science for Africa Foundation, being implemented with support from Wellcome Trust and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.