University of Cape Town

Zani de Wit is a professional registered counsellor working as a Community Engagement Officer at the University of Cape Town’s Lung Institute. She obtained her Bachelor of Psychology in 2014 and is currently studying towards her Master’s degree in Public Mental Health (MPhil) through the University of Cape Town. She is supported through the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI).

Zani manages UCT Lung Institute’s Community Engagement Portfolio, which includes research support workers and recruitment, stakeholder engagement, Community Advisory Board (CAB) and youth programme. Zani is experienced in project and people management. She identifies communication, training and facilitation as professional strengths.

Zani is also a WGNV advocacy fellow whom is passionate about the development and roll-out of a new vaccine to end TB. Other fields of interests include mental health, public health care and policy, community development and the strengthening of civil society voices in research. Her MPhil is focused on establishing the role of communicable diseases in the correlates of depression in South Africa.