Anna Coutsoudis is a public health scientist who holds the post of Professor in the Department of Paediatrics & Child Health at UKZN. She obtained her PhD from the University of Natal in 1994. In 2007 she was elected a Fellow of UKZN. She has engaged in extensive research on HIV and nutrition, and especially in breastfeeding and has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. Her research work has played an important role in the shaping of the WHO guidelines on HIV and Infant Feeding. She previously served as president of the Technical Steering Committee of the WHO Child and Adolescent Health Unit. Currently she is a member of 3 WHO Guideline Development Groups viz. vitamin A supplementation; Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis; and HIV and Infant Feeding. She is committed to improving maternal and child health in vulnerable communities through strategies that empower communities. In recognition of her contributions she was recently awarded the Science for Society Gold Medal award by the Academy of Science of South Africa. Prof Coutsoudis established the first community based breastmilk bank in South Africa specifically to provide donor breastmilk to AIDS orphans. Over the last five years she has been collaborating with the Department of Health to scale up donor milk banking in South Africa. She is currently the recipient of the GSK/Save the Children Health Innovation Award which will enable her to scale up community based Human Milk Banks in KZN using low cost technology for pasteurizing breastmilk developed by the University of Washington Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Paediatrics & Child Health