Sonja Merten

Professional Activities

  • Mother and child health
  • Access to health services
  • Food security and nutrition
  • Public Health education

Higher Education & Qualifications

  • 2003-2006: PhD student, interfaculty PhD Program Epidemiology, Institute of Social- and Preventive Medicine, University of Basel, and Swiss Tropical Institute (Perception and interpretation of traditional and biomedical health concepts in a rural African community: Nutrition among Ila-speaking peoples in Zambia. Funding: SNSF, KFPE, Zingg-Schwichtenberg Fond)
  • 2005: Master of Public Health (Do Baby-friendly hospitals influence breastfeeding duration on a national level?)
  • 2002-2005: Graduate School Gender Studies, University of Basel
  • 1999-2002: Institut für Sozial- und Präventivmedizin, Unviersität Basel, Dissertation in Medicine (Evaluation of Baby-Friendly health facilities in Switzerland after the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative UNICEF/WHO)
  • 1993: Final State exam at the Medical School of the University of Zurich

Work Experience

  • 2009: Project leader of two SNSF funded research projects (Improving equity in access to HIV care and treatment, PI of Joint Research Project; Assessing constraints to HIV testing and treatment-seeking of children in Southern Zambia, MHV personal grant)
  • 2007-2008: Coordinator of SSPH+ PhD Programm Public Health
  • 2002: WHO Genf, Nutrition for health and development
  • 1994-1998: Physician at the Department of Teaching Media, IAWF, University of Bern. Development of interactive teaching modules for medical students (in pediatrics, reproductive health)