Mrs Mabel Kissiwah Asafo is a product of Kumasi Nurses Training College (1991, 1995), University of Ghana (2004), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (2008) and more recently, Ghana College of Nurses and Midwives where she pursued a specialisation programme in Women’s Health (2018). She is currently working as a Midwife clinician, academician and a researcher in women’s health at the Shai-Osudoku District Hospital in the greater Accra region of Ghana.

Mabel began her career as a Staff Nurse and a Staff Midwife at Bekwai Government Hospital in Ashanti-Ghana and later Tafo Government hospital respectively. In 2004 she joined the National Health Learning Materials Centre of the Human Resources for Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Services situated in Kumasi where she served as a Programmes Officer in charge of health education and promotion, development of the health learning materials. Through this position she developed her skills in writing, proof reading and technical review. Due to her enormous contributions to health promotion, she was assigned the Regional Health Promotion Officer of the Ghana Health Service in Ashanti-Region; a position she occupied from August 2010 to 2015. In the period, she conducted a number of micro and mass media educational programme through radio, television and faith-based engagements on health problems affecting the populace. She also served the Sickle Cell Association of Ghana by providing education, administrative as well as psychological support to affected families. She collaborates with the sickle cell foundation of Ghana (SCFG) to train genetic counsellors in the country.

Mabel has extensive experience in facilitation. She has been a regional trainer in HIV counseling, testing and prevention of mother-to-child transmission; a national trainer in education and counseling in sickle cell disease as well as a trainer in family planning methods and utilization. Apart from facilitating in the trainings she has also made presentations of some of the research findings at international and national conferences on sickle cell disease and and HIV/AIDS. Her profession and specialty have given her the opportunity to teach students on the wards as a preceptor during their clinical placement. She taught basic nursing in Premier Nurses’ training college from 2006 to 2008.

In the area of research, Mabel was the field coordinator and HIV testing and counseling coordinator for 9 qualitative operations research on key populations funded by USAID and PEPFAR from 2011-2014 namely; HIV vulnerability and prevention needs of young female sex workers in Kumasi, HIV vulnerability and prevention needs of female post-secondary students engaged in transactional sex, exploring the beliefs and attitudes and behaviours of Men Sleeping with Men (MSM) engaged in substance use and transactional sex in Ghana, attitude and behaviours among older MSM in Ghana, HIV vulnerability among male and female prisoners, HIV vulnerability among Bar girls and retention of antiretroviral treatment of people living with HIV. She has had about 10 years’ experience of qualitative studies in HIV which include the recent GMSII study which was a collaboration between KNUST, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa. Her research experience does not only rest with HIV but also extend to sickle cell disease and maternal health.