Deborah Atobrah of the Societies and Cultures Section, holds a PhD and an MPhil in African Studies from the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, in 2010 and 2003 respectively. She has two Post Graduate Certificates from the University of Bergen Norway, in Global Health Challenges (2010) and in Global Poverty and Development (2008). Trained as an Administrator, with a BSc in Administration from the University of Ghana Business School (1996), Deborah worked as a Customer Operations Officer for five years with Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of TIGO cellular communication.
Dr. Atobrah won the Rockefeller Residency Award at the Bellagio Center of Rockefeller Foundation in 2012, and the Duke University Provost Travel Award 2013. In 2015, she became a fellow of Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health’s prestigious Takemi Program in Global Health. She is also a Catalyst Fellow at Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh. In 2014, she was consulted to evaluate the gendered impacts of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s water projects in Ghana. She also contributed a chapter on Ghana to the Progress of the World’s Women 2019-2020: Families in a Changing World, commissioned by UNWomen. Since 2018, Deborah has been a member of the Gender Working Group of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Support Programme on Climate Change.
She is the treasurer of the African Studies Association of Africa, and serves as Coordinator for the University of Ghana Required Courses. Deborah enjoys working out.
Post Graduate Certificate, Global Health Challenges, University of Bergen, Norway, 2010.
Ph.D. African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, 2009.
Post Graduate Certificate, Global Poverty and Development, University of Bergen, Norway, 2008.
MPhil. African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, 2003.
B.Sc. Administration (Marketing Option), University of Ghana, Legon, 1996.
- Cultures of gender and health
- Cultures of family care for the chronically ill
- Socio-cultural aspects of non-communicable diseases
- Disease disclosure and stigmatization among the seriously sick
- Bioethics and Family Care for patients in Africa
- Care and social policy
- Qualitative Research Methodologies
Gender in Domestic Security Implications of UN Peacekeeping (D-SIP). An IAS project in Collaboration with the Danish Institute for Development. Funded by the Danish Government. 2018-2021
Patterns in Intergenerational Constructions of Health and Ill-Health among the Ga, Ashanti and Kasena: An Ethno-Linguistic Analysis. Andrew Mellon Foundation Small Grant for Research 2018-2020.
Pathways to Accessible, Affordable and Gender-Responsive Childcare Provision: The Case of Ghana. A study commissioned by the UNWomen to contribute a background chapter on the Workd Status of Women Report, 2019.
Biography Project. An IAS research project awarded by the Office of Research, Innovation and Development, University of Ghana. 2015-2018
Socio-cultural Aspects of Non Communicable Diseases among Children in Ghana. A multidisciplinary study awarded by the Office of Research, Innovation and Development, University of Ghana. 2014-2017
Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters among Young People in Ghana: An Ethnographic Study Using the Biography of the Body. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Grant -Project Reference Number RAF6R21A) 20111-2015
Caring for the Chronically Sick among Ga Families: a Study of Traditional Practices and Modern Innovation. Doctoral Dissertation funded by the NUFU project with the University of Bergen, Norway.
Sexual Exploitation of Girls in the Streets of Accra. Funded by UNICEF Ghana-2003-2004
Atobrah D. and Albert Awedoba (2019) A Trail-Blazer, an Outstanding International Jurist, a humanitarian, an Ecumenical Christian and more…: The Life of Justice Annie Jiagge (Nee Baeta). In: Akrofi-Ansah M., Sutherland-Addy E. (eds) Building the Nation: Seven Notable Ghanaian. DigiBooks Ghana Ltd.
Atobrah D., Kwansa B., Adomako Ampofo A., & Acheampong S. (2019) Edward Oku Ampofo, Medical Doctor, Artist and Humanitarian. In: Akrofi-Ansah M., Sutherland-Addy E. (eds) Building the Nation: Seven Notable Ghanaian. DigiBooks Ghana Ltd.
Atobrah D. (2019) Navigating Gender Performance: Ethics and Culture in Researching Family Care for Cancer Patients in Ghana. In: Jackson R., Kelly M. (eds) Women Researching in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Yawson A., Badasu D. M., Atobrah D., Anarfi J., Abuosi A., Adzei F. (2018). Non-Communicable Disease in Children in Ghana: Health and Social Burden of Care on Households. Postgraduate Medical Journal of Ghana. Vol 6. No 2.
Badasu, D. M., Abuosi, A. A., Adzei, F. A., Anarfi, J. K., Yawson, A. E., & Atobrah, D. A. (2018). Educational status and beliefs regarding non-communicable diseases among children in Ghana. BMC public health, 18(1), 313.
Atobrah, Deborah, and Albert K. Awedoba. (2017). "Men Play, Women Break the Town: Gender and Intergenerational Asymmetry in Sexual and Reproductive Worldview Among the Ga of Ghana." Sexuality & Culture: 1-22.
Atobrah, Deborah. (2016). Elderly women, community participation and family care in Ghana: Lessons from HIV response and AIDS Orphan care in Manya Krobo. Ghana Studies 2016 (19) pp 73-94.
Yawson, Alfred E., Aaron A. Abuosi, Delali M. Badasu, Deborah Atobrah, Francis A. Adzei, and John K. Anarfi. (2016). "Non-communicable diseases among children in Ghana: health and social concerns of parent/caregivers." African Health Sciences 16, no. 2: 378-388.
Abuosi, Aaron. A., Badasu, Delali. M., Yawson, Alfred, Adzei, Francis A, Atobrah, Deborah, & Anarfi, John (2016). Investigating children with acute non-communicable diseases and their caregivers in developing countries. Journal of Acute Disease, 5, no. 4 (2016): 286-295.
John Kwasi Anarfi, Delali M Badasu, Alfred Yawson, Deborah Atobrah, Aaron A Abuosi, Francis A Adzei. (2016). Religious affiliation and health-seeking behavior related to non- communicable diseases among children in Ghana. International Journal of Healthcare 2:2
Atobrah, Deborah and Akosua Adomako Ampofo. (2016). Expressions of Masculinity and Femininity in Husbands’ Care of Wives with Cancer in Accra. African Studies Review. Vol 59 (10) 175-197.
Abuosi, Aaron A., Francis A. Adzei, John Anarfi, Delali M. Badasu, Deborah Atobrah, and Alfred Yawson. (2015) "Investigating parents/caregivers financial burden of care for children with non-communicable diseases in Ghana." BMC Pediatrics 15, no. 1: 1
Nyarko, Y., Goldfrank, L., Ogedegbe, G., Soghoian, S., & Aikins, A. D. G.and NYU-UG-KBTH Ghana Ebola Working Group* (2015). Preparing for Ebola Virus Disease in West African countries not yet affected: perspectives from Ghanaian health professionals. Globalization and Health, 11(1), 7.
Atobrah, Deborah. (2014). Review of Medische Antropologie Jaargang 22, Nummer 1, 2010 ed Anja Hiddinga et al. Contemporary Journal of African Studies Vol. 2. No. 1(2014) 107-109.
Atobrah, Deborah. (2013) “Caring for the Seriously Ill in a Ghanaian Society: Glimpses from the Past.” Ghana Studies Volume 15/16 2013/2014.
Atobrah, Deborah. (2013). “Breast Cancer Research in Ghana: a Focus on Social Science Perspectives” In Aikins de graft Ama, et al. (Eds.) Chronic Non Communicable Diseases in Ghana: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. University of Ghana Reader. Sub Saharan Publishers: Accra.
Atobrah, Deborah. (2012). “When Darkness Falls at Mid-Day: Young Patients’ Perceptions and Meanings of Chronic Illness and their Implications for Medical Care”. Ghana Medical Journal, Special Issue on Chronic Illness. (Issue Editor Ama de Graft Aikins).
Awedoba Albert, Deborah Atobrah & Dsane (2012). “Aspects of Sexual Violence among the Ga of Accra: Ethnographic Study of Concupiscence in Transition”. In Yannick Jaffré (ed) Fécondité et Contraception en Afrique De L’ouest: Une Contribution Anthropologique. Éditions Faustroll Claunay.
Antwi Phylis & Atobrah, Deborah. 2009 “Stigma in the Care of People Living with HIV/AIDS and Cancer in Accra”. In C. Oppong, K. Waerness, and P. Antwi, (Eds.). Care of the Seriously Sick and Dying. BRIC, Unifob Global, University of Bergen, Norway. Pp 114-145.
Adomako Ampofo, Akosua, Osman Alhassan, Francis Ankrah, Deborah Atobrah and Moses Nii-Dortey. 2007. Examining Child Sexual Exploitation on the Streets of Accra. UNICEF, Ghana.
Atobrah, Deborah. 2006 Care of Orphans in Manya Krobo. Studies in the Cultures of Care, Vol. 2 Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon. Pp1-70.
Atobrah, Deborah. 2004 “Children of Dead Mothers and Disappeared Fathers”. Supplement 16- ‘Children at Risk.’ Research Review, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. Pp. 59-76
Christine Oppong, Kari Waerness with Deborah Atobrah (Eds.). 2004. Supplement 16 Children at Risk. Research Review, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.
Beyond Silos and Boundaries: Exploring avenues for collaboration among social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. Panel Convener and Panelist at the 2019 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, 28th-30th October 2019, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Gender Implications of International Peace Keeping on Domestic Security. International Studies Association Conference on Exploring the Agency of the Global South in International Studies. August 1-3 2019
Presented with Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Expressions of Masculinity and Femininity in Husbands’ Care of Wives with Cancer in Accra. Ghana Studies Association 3rd Triennial Conference, University of Ghana 10-13 July 2019.
Presented with Patience Gyamena, Culture and health care pluralism among Akan cancer patients in Ghana. Paper presented at the European Conference of African Studies 2019 on Africa: Connections and Disruptions. Edinburgh, June 11-14, 2019.
Presented with Benjamin Kwansa, Why do African leaders keep their illness statuses so secretive? Frazer, Hierarchical Ordering of Bodies and Disease Disclosure. Paper presented at the European Conference of African Studies 2019 on Africa: Connections and Disruptions. Edinburgh, June 11-14, 2019.
Presented with Benjamin Kwansa, Achieving universal health challenge? A focus on constructions of health and ill-health in Ghana. Paper presented at the European Conference of African Studies 2019 on Africa: Connections and Disruptions. Edinburgh, June 11-14, 2019.
Participant, 2018 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, October 15th –October 18th 2018, Berlin, Germany.
Presented with Benjamin Kwansa, Suspicious and Deadly Strategies: Challenges in Achieving the 90-90-90 Target in Ghana. Nordic Africa Days 2018 Conference on African Mobilities – Reshaping narratives and practices of circulation and exchange. 19-22 September in Uppsala, Sweden.
Bioethical Concerns on Suffering and Dying of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Ghana. Presented at the University of Ghana-Northern Kentucky University conference on Bioethics: African Perspectives. 29-30th May, 2017, University of Ghana.
Emerging Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Behaviors in Ghana: Implications for Public Health Risks and Opportunities. Harvard Chan Poster Day, April 8th 2016. Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
Emerging Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Behaviors in Ghana: Implications for Public Health Risks and Opportunities. Presented at the Global Health Program Symposium: “Coming of Age: A Conference on Global Adolescent Health”. March 29th 2016, Rotunda Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, Boston, MA.
Gender and Intergenerational Asymmetry in Sexual and Reproductive Behaviors in Ghana. February 4th 2016, Department of Global Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
Sexual and Reproductive Health Matter among Young People in Ghana: A Ethnographic Study. September 4th September 2015, Department of Global Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
International Travel Restrictions as a Preventive Measure against the Spread of the Ebola Virus Disease: Pragmatism or Defiance? International Research Conference on Multidisciplinary Research and Transformation in Africa. College of Humanities, University of Ghana; 18 – 20 June 2015. Presented with Promise Eweh,
“Humanities by the Numbers”. Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes Annual Conference. University of Wisconsin, Madison. 5-9 June 2015. Participant.
Teaching
UGRC 232 Issues in African Studies
AFST 631 Culture and Gender in African Societies
AFST 632 Gender and Development in Africa
Student Supervision:
Masters & Ph.D. Supervision-16