Deborah Kansiime

Deborah Kansiime is pursuing an MSc in Modelling for Global Health at the University of Oxford and is a member of St Anne’s College. She is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar at the University of Oxford.

She holds a First-Class Honours degree in Global Challenges with a specialisation in Healthcare from the African Leadership University. Before coming to Oxford, Deborah worked as a Programme Officer for Harm Reduction at the Health Development Initiative in Rwanda, where she advanced access to health services for people who use drugs. Her work focused on disease prevention, advocacy, and linkage to treatment—particularly for diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis C, Tuberculosis, and opioid overdose among this group.

Deborah contributed to health initiatives in various health fields, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health, and the inclusion of marginalized groups of people. She supported research projects through proposal development, data collection, analysis, abstract, and manuscript writing.

She previously interned at the Georgia Harm Reduction Coalition in the United States, supporting services such as substance use counselling, medication-assisted treatment, outreach, and preventive healthcare.

Deborah is an alumna of the Community Engagement Exchange Program, sponsored by the US Department of State and implemented by IREX. Through this programme, she collaborated with a US-based health organisation, volunteered with Books for Africa, and contributed to the pilot of a harm reduction initiative in Rwanda.

At Oxford, Deborah is exploring the use of mathematical modelling to inform global health research and programme delivery. She aims to work with research institutions, NGOs, governments, and international organisations to strengthen health policy and implementation.