Simukai Chigudu

Chigudu was born in Zimbabwe,[1] where he attended St George's College, Harare.[2] In 2003 he moved to the United Kingdom, where he went to Stonyhurst College, going on to study medicine at Newcastle University.[2]

After graduating, he worked as a doctor in the National Health Service, and became increasingly interested in global health and healthcare equity.[3] He took part in several international placements, including at the Global Fund for Women where he studied sexual health in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of this position Chigudu worked in rural hospitals in South Africa and coordinated the largest epidemiological survey in Tanzania. On his return he joined Imperial College London as an academic clinical fellow in public health.[3] During his fellowship he earned a Master's in Public Health where he studied the health system in The Gambia.[3] To further his interest in social sciences, Chigudu decided to complete a second master's degree, and moved to the University of Oxford to train in African studies. He was awarded a Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarship to investigate feminist movements in Northern Uganda.[3][4] While at Oxford he decided to work toward a PhD in the Oxford Department of International Development under the supervision of Jocelyn Alexander.[3] As a graduate student, Chigudu was a founding member of the Oxford Rhodes Must Fall activist group that looked to “decolonise” both Oxford and academia more broadly.[3] He was awarded the African Studies Association Audrey Richards Prize for the best doctoral thesis in African Studies in the United Kingdom.[5][6]

He has investigated the social and political origins and impacts of the 2008 Zimbabwean cholera outbreak. He attributes the spread of this preventable disease to a breakdown of public health infrastructure and diminishing bureaucratic order.[7] Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Chigudu became concerned by how Africa would respond to the outbreak of coronavirus disease.[8]

In the wake of the George Floyd protests, Chigudu wrote in The Guardian about the need to remember the devastation caused by the British Empire.[9] At one of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Oxford, Chigudu stated: "The institution is structured according to a legacy and a culture that is very white and very elitist."[10][11] He said that he believed Black Lives Matter had become such a powerful message in Oxford because of their history "of white supremacy that has denigrated, exploited and subjugated black lives".[3]

• Chigudu, Simukai (2020). "The Political Life of an Epidemic: Cholera, Crisis and Citizenship in Zimbabwe". Cambridge Core. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
• Hunter, Ewan; Rogathi, Jane; Chigudu, Simukai; Jusabani, Ahmed; Jackson, Margaret; McNally, Richard; Gray, William; Whittaker, Roger G.; Iqbal, Ahmed; Birchall, Daniel; Aris, Eric (2012). "Prevalence of active epilepsy in rural Tanzania: A large community-based survey in an adult population". Seizure. 21 (9): 691–698. doi:10.1016/j.seizure.2012.07.009. ISSN 1059-1311. PMID 22883631. S2CID 7136636.
• Chigudu, Simukai; Jasseh, Momodou; d’Alessandro, Umberto; Corrah, Tumani; Demba, Adama; Balen, Julie (2014-09-22). "The role of leadership in people-centred health systems: a sub-national study in The Gambia". Health Policy and Planning. 33 (1): e14–e25. doi:10.1093/heapol/czu078. ISSN 0268-1080. PMID 29304251. S2CID 19057497.

• Simukai Chigudu on Twitter