Professor Hirotsugu Aiga is a full-time Professor at the School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University (Japan), with concurrent affiliation to the university’s Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN). He also serves as Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and has held senior advisory roles with WHO, JICA, WFP, and the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies. Education PhD, Human Resources for Health – The University of Tokyo MSc, Environmental Health – The University of Tokyo MEng (ABD), Inorganic Polymer Chemistry – Waseda University BEng, Functional Polymer Chemistry – Waseda University Research Interests Professor Aiga’s work spans five overarching domains: Health workforce development – policy analysis, planning, and evaluation of national HRH systems across Cambodia, DRC, Fiji, Ghana, Tonga, Vietnam, and Vanuatu. Household food security & nutrition – development of international food-security guidelines and large-scale nutrition/mortality surveys in DRC, India, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Sudan. Epidemiology of infectious diseases – diarrhoeal disease and neglected tropical diseases (Chagas, Buruli ulcer) in El Salvador, Ghana, Honduras, and the Philippines. Maternal and child health – design, implementation and evaluation of home-based records (Maternal & Child Health Handbooks) in Angola, Mozambique, and Vietnam. Health information systems – strengthening of facility- and population-based HIS/HMIS in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Pakistan, and South Africa. Recent Publication Trends Between 2022 and 2024 his peer-reviewed output focuses on community-based interventions to boost maternal health-service uptake in rural Ghana, risk factors for anaemia in pregnancy, COVID-19-related disruptions to food availability and affordability, and machine-learning-based high-resolution mapping of maternal-child health coverage in Nigeria. These studies combine rigorous epidemiological designs (quasi-experimental, interrupted time-series, cluster RCTs) with advanced analytics (machine learning, geospatial modelling) to inform evidence-based policy in low- and middle-income countries. Scientific Awards & Recognition No specific awards, medals or named fellowships are detailed in the provided text. Grants, Advising & Teaching Professor Aiga has served as principal investigator or senior adviser on multiple large-scale projects funded by JICA, WHO, WFP and other agencies. While the exact grant amounts are not listed, his responsibilities include overall study design, policy guidance, capacity-building of local research teams, and direct mentorship of Masters and Doctoral candidates enrolled at Nagasaki University. He currently teaches full-time in both the Masters and Doctoral programmes at the School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health and has lectured at Kitasato University, the University of Tokyo, University of Geneva, Yokohama National University, and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. Laboratory & Research Teams He leads Professor Hirotsugu Aiga’s Lab at Nagasaki University and collaborates with a multidisciplinary network of over 50 co-authors spanning Japan, Ghana, Nigeria, Angola, the U.S., Switzerland and beyond. Core partners include experts in epidemiology, biostatistics, health economics, nutrition, and health-systems modelling.
