Dr Blessing Akombi-Inyang

Dr Blessing Akombi-Inyang is an emerging early career researcher in global health specializing in maternal, adolescent and child health, including childhood under-nutrition and the double burden of malnutrition. She commenced an appointment as Associate Lecturer in Global Health at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW in May 2019.

Blessing's research focuses on maternal, adolescent and child health and provides evidence for community-based interventions to improve health outcomes among vulnerable populations particularly in developing countries. She has successfully translated her research into practice (e.g. "MealsForAll" program which has provided over 20,000 meals to public primary school children in Nigeria). Blessing has led community-based initiatives in Nigeria aimed at scaling up the uptake of evidence-based interventions for improving health outcomes.

Blessing co-founded the Global Maternal and Child Health Research Collaboration (GloMACH) - a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research collaboration which aims to provide public policy driven research papers. She is an adjunct fellow with the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University and an Associate Editor in BMC Public Health. Blessing is currently involved in international consortia such as the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Collaborator Network (Washington DC) and the LBD Double Burden of Malnutrition Collaborators Network. She is also a member of the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) research stream and the Child and Adolescent Health Research Theme Group at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine (SPHCM), UNSW Medicine. In addition, Blessing is a member of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).

Blessing has a growing interest in migrant health within Australia particularly in the aspects of nutrition and lifestyle transition post-migration.

Blessing is currently teaching core and elective courses offered in the Master of Public Health; Master of International Public Health; and Master of Health Management programs in SPHCM including:

Co-convenor - PHCM/PHOP9606 Reproductive, Maternal and Children's Health

Associate Convenor - PHCM9041 Foundations in Public Health and Health Care System