The Project Team

After more than 10 years of project coordination in the fields of microfinance, microentrepreneurship and microinsurance in more than 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Clémence decided in 2015 to focus her career on health issues.
Before taking up the position of ATLAS project director in August 2018, Clémence coordinated, as head of mission of Médecins du Monde in Côte d’Ivoire, initiatives aimed at the most vulnerable populations, in particular women and children under 5 years of age, drug users and young people and adolescents.

With an MBA in Project Management and Development, Souadou has a varied experience in project coordination and monitoring, project capitalization and partnership management. After working with France volontaires as coordinator of a reciprocity project between France and Senegal on international exchanges, she moved on to research, capacity building and policy dialogue as a partnership manager, in charge of research administration, in the framework of a project on agricultural and rural policy development with a focus on promoting evidence-informed decision-making. Today she continues her career in project management at Solthis as an Atlas Project Assistant and Desk SN/ML/CI.

Graduated in Business Administration, Sambacor KA took his first steps in an audit firm before joining Plan International where he spent most of his career. He held all the positions in the Finance Department of the regional office based in Dakar before his experiences in the sub-region, notably at Plan International Mali and more recently at Plan International Guinea. He has developed significant experience in budget management, administrative and financial management, grant management and team management.

Demographer in public health at the Institute for Research for Development (IRD), member of the Population & Development Centre (Ceped, UMR 196). Co-president of the ANRS Sectoral Scientific Committee “Public Health and Social Sciences”. For the past 15 years, Joseph Larmarange has been conducting research in West and Southern Africa in the field of HIV : estimation of epidemics, characterization of key populations, screening policies, new prevention tools (TasP, PrEP), HIV/viral hepatitis integration/sexual and reproductive health…

Nicolas is a pharmacist specialized in international public health and has been working in HIV research since 2015. After a master’s internship with the NGO Solthis and a doctoral thesis in pharmacist on the theme of screening key populations in West Africa, he worked for more than 3 years as a project manager in the International Research and Collaboration Department at the National Research Agency on HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis (ANRS) in Paris. He then joined the ATLAS team in October 2018 to take care of the technical coordination of the research part of the program based at IRD in Paris.

Anthony holds a Master’s degree in Public Health Sciences (MPH) and an inter-university diploma in statistics applied to clinical research and epidemiology. He has twenty years’ experience in directing, coordinating and providing technical assistance in international cooperation with disadvantaged, vulnerable and/or marginalized populations. Ten years of more specific engagement on HIV/AIDS issues in Africa and Asia.

Olivier is an agronomist and holds a Master’s degree in development program coordination. Over the past fifteen years, he has acquired solid experience in central and West Africa and particularly in Côte d’Ivoire, working with several international NGOs including Solidarités International, the French Red Cross and now Solthis. He has worked in multiple areas such as food security, agricultural development, water and sanitation and health in emergency, post-emergency, epidemic response and development humanitarian contexts. He has a good knowledge of the financing mechanisms, the setting up and implementation of projects.

Aminata is a confirmed accountant with 10 years of professional experience in accounting, administrative and financial monitoring of NGOs including the Ivory Coast Red Cross, the French Red Cross and the Dutch Red Cross. She also has extensive experience and capacity to manage funding from various institutional donors such as USAID, DUE, ECHO, AFD, SNU. She has a good command of team leadership with a strong appreciation for interprofessional communication.

Holder of a Higher Diploma in Transit and Logistics, Wilfried Koffi has been working in humanitarian logistics since 2009 for the French Red Cross in partnership with the Red Cross of Côte d’Ivoire and then for Solthis since 2018. He has acquired good experience in preparing files and monitoring purchases until their final destination, equipment management, inventory management, fleet management, in compliance with the procedures of humanitarian organizations and donors.

Graduated of the Institut National Polytechnique de Yamoussoukro, specializing in Computer Science, Hervé Kouamé Kouakou began his career as a data manager at the Ariel Glaser Foundation. He then successively held the positions of Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant and Project Coordinator at Heatland Alliance International, before joining Solthis. This career path has given him significant experience in project management in the field of HIV/AIDS in general and in the field of monitoring and evaluation in particular.

Holder of a BTS option Finance-accounting, Marie-Ange began her carreer in the private sector before getting involved in humanitarian work after the Ivorian crisis of 2011. She joined Solthis Côte d’Ivoire in 2019 after 4 years spent at Première Urgence Aide-Médicale Internationale as Assistant to the Administrative and Financial Coordinator and 3 years in accounting at Terre des Hommes Italy.

With a degree in international logistics, Djénéba started her career at the National AIDS Control Programme in 2013 as a logistics assistant.
She has acquired several years of experience in inventory management of equipment and pharmaceutical products (antiretroviral drugs).
After participating in the introduction of HIV self-tests in Côte d’Ivoire within the PNLS, she joined ATLAS in February 2020.

Odé Kanku Kabemba is a doctor of medicine, surgery and childbirth, graduated from the University of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also holds an MD-MPH from the Catholic Universities of Louvain and Libre de Bruxelles. He continued his training at Illinois State University with a specialization in project management, monitoring and evaluation. He has since developed a long experience in health systems management, from organization, definition and planning of supply, to monitoring and evaluation.

A graduate of the Faculty of Arts in Languages, Art and Human Sciences (FLASH) in Bamako, with a Master’s Degree in Sociology and then a Master’s Degree in Nutrition (in progress), Mohamed began his career as a community development agent and then nutritionist at the Centre and Audiovisual Production Services at Action Contre la Faim and Médecins du Monde Belgium to raise awareness and promote good behaviour among the populations most vulnerable to HIV-AIDS and malnutrition. Before joining Solthis as Community Mobilization Manager of the ATLAS Project for Mali, he also worked in communication and social mobilization at the National Blood Transfusion Centre.

Graduated in pharmacy with a master’s degree in international health, Monique began her career in private pharmacy and then in the public sector as a pharmacist responsible for coordinating the implementation of pharmaceutical activities and capacity building at the regional level. Then at the central level, this coordination was extended to include the management of pharmaceutical statics and logistics issues. As part of Global Fund grants and on behalf of health system strengthening, Monique worked as a coordinator of GAS plans of partners and state at the national level for HIV, tuberculosis, reproductive health, malaria and nutrition.

Graduated in general medicine, Dr. Younoussa SIDIBE began his career as a support doctor in a gynaecology and obstetrics department in Bamako. He was a doctor in charge of a medical practice in Sévaré, in the Mopti region, and was recruited in 2004 by the Association Kénédougou Solidarité, which specializes in community care for people living with HIV in the Sikasso region. He held several responsibilities up to executive management. He has followed training courses on global HIV care, including a DU at the University of Paris VII on “Sexually transmitted diseases, rational drug prescription and their impact on reproductive health” and a Master 2 in project and organization management, as well as capacity building on Institutional Development and Organizational Strengthening.

Specialist in dermato-venereology and public health, developing country option, Sanata is a woman in the field who worked hard in civil society to promote a positive life for PLWHAs before becoming an expert on HIV/AIDS. She worked as National HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator in Niger, Programme Officer for HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Reproductive Health for Adolescents and Youth at UNFPA, before joining Solthis, first as Medical Coordinator, then as Head of Mission, then as Health Services Officer in charge of capacity building for Solthis teams in the various countries, and is now Head of the ATLAS Project for Senegal and Solthis Representative for Senegal.

Baidy is a specialist in monitoring and evaluation of public health projects/programs. He has worked with many non-governmental organizations, Plan International Senegal, Childfund, Enda Santé, in several programs : Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Community Health, STD Prevention, HIV/AIDS in different leadership positions. Baidy has extensive experience in setting up monitoring and evaluation systems, auditing data quality and monitoring beneficiaries.

A graduate in accounting, audit control (CCA) and finance/accounting, Aliou began his career at the Diourbel Regional Treasury-Payment Office and at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Dakar. After missions to Plan International and the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation, Aliou joined Action contre la Faim in August 2015 as Finance Administrator of the Podor base (Saint Louis Region) in the fight against malnutrition. He was then assigned in July 2016, still as Finance Administrator, to the Matam base, which carries nearly 75% of the budgetary weight of the Senegal Mission. His years of experience have enabled him to strengthen his skills in financial, administrative and accounting management, budget management, human resources management and team management.

Graduated in Financial and Accounting Sciences and Techniques, Scholastique started as an accounting secretary in the agri-food sector. In July 2017, she joined the humanitarian community by first integrating the NGO Pilot Village as an Administrative and Accounting Officer and then continuing the adventure with Solthis.

Doctor and professor of medical anthropology, Alice Desclaux is a research director at IRD, in the TransVIHMI unit (IRD, INSERM, University of Montpellier). She has conducted research in Africa on various social aspects of HIV (screening, women, medication, PMTCT, ethics, community involvement, etc.), particularly in Burkina Faso and Senegal. In Dakar, she is developing studies and training at the CRCF (Centre Régional de Recherche et de Formation à la prise en charge du VIH et des maladies associées de Fann).

A graduate in psychology and public health, Odette Ky-Zerbo has contributed to several studies on various research themes, among populations most affected by health problems (pregnant women, youth, PLWHA, key populations, etc.). These include the research projects DITRAME, Kesho-Bora, MATCH. These research themes cover sexual and reproductive health, including HIV (PMTCT, VCT), infant and young child feeding, and maternal and child health. She joined ATLAS research in November 2018 as an associate researcher at UMI TransVIHMI / IRD, after working at the MURAZ Centre (12 years) and PAMAC (10 years). She has also worked as a public health consultant in Burkina Faso and other countries of the West African sub-region.

Sokhna Boye holds a PhD in Anthropology of Health from the Cheick Anta Diop University of Dakar. Her thesis work focused on issues of breastfeeding in the context of maternal pathology (HIV, puerperal psychosis) and professional activity. She worked at the CRCF of Fann/Dakar as an investigator and then as a research assistant from 2009 to 2016 on various themes related to HIV and especially on the PREMS project on PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV) for 2 years. Sokhna then worked at the Institut Pasteur in Dakar for nearly three years (October 2016-April 2019) as head of the anthropological component of the Neovac project (Neonatal Hepatitis B Vaccination in Africa) in Senegal before joining the ATLAS project. She has been a post-doctoral fellow at CePed (Centre Population et Développement)/IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) since May 2019, in charge of the study on HIV partner screening (index case study) of the ATLAS project.

A physician by training and holder of a Master’s and Doctorate in Public Health and Epidemiology, Dr. Raoul Moh is a researcher at Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in the Dermatology and Infectious Diseases Unit. He is also the Executive Director of PAC-CI, a research program on HIV/AIDS in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) and the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS). He is the Mereva (Methodology and Evaluation for Clinical Research and HIV Epidemiology in Africa) coordinator for the South, a platform aimed at ensuring the methodology and management of studies on HIV and related diseases conducted in sub-Saharan Africa.

His research focuses on therapeutic strategies in people living with HIV and co-morbidities.

Graduated with a master’s degree in demography, Kra Arsène Kouassi began his career at the National Institute of Statistics of Côte d’Ivoire (INS-CI), before being recruited as a research assistant in the population and development cabinet of ENSEA-ABIDJAN. Since September 2016, he has been involved in HIV research, where he worked on the DOD-CI project, a large public health research project whose aim was to better understand the situation in Côte d’Ivoire with regard to HIV and viral hepatitis screening. Now involved in the ATLAS program, Kra Arsène Kouassi is starting a PhD thesis in public health at CEPED in Paris.

Researcher with a mixed background in health economics and pharmacy. Interested in HIV-related public health issues in a global context, Marc worked at UNAIDS in 2015 and joined the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2016.

Prior to joining ATLAS, Marc was the junior coordinator of the economic component of the STAR Research Consortium to inform the strategy for the introduction of HIV self-testing in Southern Africa (2016 – 2019).

 Kéba is an Economic Statistics Engineer (ISE) and is passionate about operational research in general and studies in the health field in particular. His curriculum has enabled him to acquire not only theoretical and practical knowledge in health economics but also to develop an expertise in research. A graduate of the National School of Statistics and Economic Analysis (ENSAE-Dakar), he first joined CEFOREP as a research assistant in the PAC-FP project on Post-Abortion Care (PAC-FP) before continuing the adventure with SOLTHIS.

Epidemiologist specializing in mathematical modelling of infectious diseases at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious disease Analysis (MRC GIDA), School of Public Health of Imperial College London and head of the HPTN mathematical modelling Centre ( https://hptnmodelling.org/). Marie-Claude has worked in the field of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases for over 25 years. Her research aims to characterize epidemics and better understand how to control the transmission of infections using existing and emerging interventions. Her studies use a variety of quantitative techniques: mathematical modeling, statistics, data analysis, and systematic reviews. In this project, modelling will be used to evaluate and optimize the use of self-tests in West Africa.

Romain Silhol is an epidemiologist specializing in mathematical modelling of infectious diseases at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious disease Analysis (MRC GIDA) and the HPTN mathematical modelling Centre at imperial College London. He holds a PhD in biostatistics from the Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris 6) and has been conducting research in the field of sexually transmitted disease modelling (particularly HIV) since completing his PhD.
His research is mainly aimed at characterizing epidemics and estimating the impact of key populations or interventions on the incidence of new infections, but also at evaluating the performance of the different mathematical and statistical tools used for these analyses. As part of the ATLAS project, it will model the impact of self-tests on HIV epidemics in West Africa, using new mathematical models as well as comprehensive reviews of existing data for participating countries.