Dr Delfina Hlashwayo

Delfina Hlashwayo has been a faculty member and a researcher at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique since 2017. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology and Health, a Master of Science in Food Safety, and a PhD in Biosciences and Public Health, for which her doctoral thesis received a distinction of excellence. Her research career began in 2013 at Mozambique’s National Health Institute and later worked at the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program.

She has earned a postgraduate certificate in One Health and a postgraduate diploma in Infectious Diseases. Delfina’s multidisciplinary research started focusing on non-communicable diseases and HIV, expanding to infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and the pharmacological potential of medicinal plants. She also has experience conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Delfina serves on the editorial board of PLOS Global Public Health and has experience as an expert consultant for the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). In Mozambique, she has led capacity-building programs for health students and professionals and coordinated an innovative grant and mentorship initiative for young women in science.

Her involvement with the United Nations includes contributions to the WHO Research and Development Blueprint for Neglected Tropical Diseases; scientific review of the 2025 Hazard Information Profiles led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the International Science Council; co-authorship of the 2024 Youth Recommendations for Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention; and contributions to the Zero Draft Political Declaration of the UN World Social Summit 2025 under the Major Group for Children and Youth. Delfina was a United Nations Youth for Biosecurity Fellow (2024), a Youth Delegate to high-level UN meetings, and winner of the UN World Food Forum Policy and Deliberation Challenge (2024).

She is recognized as a Young Affiliate of The World Academy of Sciences and received the Rising Star Award for Emerging HIV Investigators from the San Diego Center for AIDS Research in 2022. Delfina is an advocate for global health, gender equity in science, and the critical role of scientists in shaping policy and diplomacy, striving for a more peaceful, healthy, and sustainable world.